Man faces 7 years in prison for Facebook post
Emdadul Haque Milon, 34, has been targeted under the draconian Digital Security Act, a law that criminalizes some legitimate forms of expression under vague and overly-broad provisions with punishments that can go up to life imprisonment. The Bangladeshi government introduced the law to address crimes such as data theft, financial crimes and fraud committed online. Since its adoption, the law has been used arbitrarily to arrest, intimidate and harass people for sharing dissent and exercising their right to freedom of expression.
Emdadul Haque Milon posted on his Facebook account on 27 February 2020 that “Inviting Modi, an oppressor of Muslims at the birth centenary of Mujib is an insult to the Bengali nation’s pride, Bangabandhu, and people of Bangladesh will not welcome that.”
The police used this Facebook post and alleged that he also shared a post with a satirical image of Bangladeshi minister Obaidul Quader to express his dissatisfaction of the electronic voting system.
Police arrested him on 3 March 2020 and accused him of publishing “offensive” and “defamatory” content and “deteriorating law and order” respectively under sections 25(2), 29(1) and 31(2) of the Act. He faces an indefinite detention and if convicted, he could face up to seven years in jail and/or a fine of up to 500,000 takas.
Under international human rights law, the mere fact that forms of expression are considered to be insulting to a public figure is not sufficient to justify the imposition of penalties. In particular, the UN Human Rights Committee has called on States to consider the decriminalization of defamation, and instead treat it as a matter of civil litigation.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Bangladesh to “urgently revise the Digital Security Act (DSA), to ensure that it is in line with international human rights law and that it provides for checks and balances against arbitrary arrest, detention, and other undue restrictions of the rights of individuals to the legitimate exercise of their freedom of expression and opinion”.
In November 2018, Amnesty International released a report titled “Muzzling Dissent Online”, which outlined sections within the DSA which are inconsistent with international human rights law and standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bangladesh is a state party and called on the Bangladesh government to promptly amend the law.
At least 14 offences under the DSA, including one of the charges brought against Emdadul Haque, are non-bailable. The Human Rights Committee observed that harassment including arrest, trial, detention and imprisonment for reasons of an opinion a person may hold, constitutes a violation of article 19 of ICCPR.
Nearly 400 cases were filed against different individuals in the first 11 months after the DSA came into effect in October 2018. According to media reports, more than 200 cases have been dismissed for lacking sufficient evidence.