Expressing concern over the newly passed Cyber Security Act (CSA), the US Embassy in Dhaka on Thursday said the new legislation continues to criminalise freedom of expression.
The Act also retains non-bailable offenses, and too easily could be misused to arrest, detain, and silence critics.
Noting the passage of the CSA, the US embassy in a statement said, “We regret that the Government of Bangladesh did not give stakeholders adequate opportunity to review and provide input to the new law to ensure it meets international standards.”
Unfortunately, it said the CSA retains many aspects of its predecessor, the Digital Security Act.