CSA to become a weapon to muzzle press
If the much-talked-about Cyber Security Act, 2023, comes into force, police, under section 42, will have the power to search, seize, and arrest journalists without a warrant, which the Sampadak Parishad (Editors' Council) rejects.
The Editors' Council expressed grave concern as the CSA has been passed by the Jatiya Sangsad recently amid strong objections.
Through the passage of the law, the concerns expressed by media stakeholders, including the Editors' Council, for so long have been proven justified, it said in a statement yesterday.
Scrapping the Digital Security Act, the new law has been enacted by reducing some penalties and amending some sections of the DSA. Apart from packaging, there is no qualitative or significant changes. Many elements that curtail freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press still remain in the CSA, the council said.
The council said it wants punishment for committing crimes through digital or cyber means. But the CSA will become a weapon to repress journalists and muzzle the press since most of the provisions of the DSA have been kept in this new law.
Mahfuz Anam, president of the organisation and the editor and publisher of The Daily Star, and Dewan Hanif Mahmud, its general secretary and editor and publisher of the daily Bonik Barta, signed the statement.
"The Editors' Council had been saying that nine sections [8, 21, 25, 28, 29, 31, 32, 43 and 53] of the DSA would cause serious harm to independent journalism and freedom of expression and demanded their amendment.
In the CSA, seven sections of the DSA have been included after changes regarding punishment and bail. "But the definitions of crimes have not been clarified, rather they remain the same.
"The UN Human Rights Office had urged the scrapping of sections 21 and 28 of the Digital Security Act as they were considered, at national and international levels, contradictory to the freedom of expression, misleading, and a tool to harass political opponents. Keeping the sections by reducing the penalties will leave scope for misuse and arbitrary use of the two sections," according to the statement of the Editors' Council.
"Four sections of the law have been made non-bailable. The maximum punishment for cyber-related cases is 14 years imprisonment and a fine of Tk 1 crore under this law," the statement reads.
"Therefore, the Cyber Security Act cannot be considered anything new other than an oppressive law," the Editors' Council leaders said in the statement.
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