People in power will create laws like DSA and use them as weapons of choice

Moderated by Zillur Rahman, Executive Director, CGS, the webinar included Dr. Ali Riaz, Distinguished Professor​ at the Department of Politics and Government, Illinois State University; Badiul Alam Majumdar, Secretary, SHUJAN; Faruq Faisel, Executive Director, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK); Shafiqul Alam, Bureau Chief, AFP; Shihab Khan Uddin, Barrister, Supreme Court of Bangladesh; and Dr. Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury, Chairman, CGS; as speakers. Journalists from various news outlets were present in the webinar and a Q&A session was held after the discussion.

Mentioning that the DSA has been categorized as “Draconian Law” by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Zillur Rahman emphasized that people need to be aware of their human and civil rights along with being able to practice democracy freely. Expressing his concerns about the future, he mentioned the proposed Data Protection Act and how it would do the opposite of what its name suggest and called for collaborative efforts to address the immediate and potential chaos in the country in terms of rule of law, human rights, and democracy.

Dr. Ali Riaz presented the report outlining the discrepancy between government published information and the reality about the number of cases and detained persons under the DSA. He pointed out that while cases have been filed against people of various professions, politicians and journalists constitute most of them. Analyzing the DSA for 5 years, he highlighted some issues which include lack of transparency, abuse in pre-trial detention, and cases against the underaged. He recommended that independent committee be established to properly investigate the validity of the DSA cases and immediate release of those are being detained under the act. He said, “As long as the cases under these laws exist, the accused along with their families and friends will go through a continuous agonizing situation.”

Quoting Max Weber about legitimate exercise of power being a characteristic of a modern state Badiul Alam Majumdar, stated that the DSA is an exercise of power to gain control but not legitimate. Referencing the case of Khadijatul Kubra, he emphasized about the fragility of freedom of speech in the country. He characterized the DSA as “weaponization of law” and as “a great threat to the article 39 of the constitution”.

Faruq Faisel said, “A culture of fear has forced people to self-censor and consequently this has disrupted freedom of press and the practice of democracy”, emphasizing the abuse of the DSA in suppressing journalists and the mass.

“The objective of the DSA was to criminalize free speech”, said Shafiqul Alam. He also mentioned that when the authorities noticed that free speech was transitioning to digital platforms, they needed a tool to “control” that. Advocating for scrapping the law he concluded with “No matter what form it stays in, be it DSA or CSA, its abuse is inevitable.”

Barrister Shihab Khan Uddin stated that the disputed article 57 of the ICT Act was incorporated into the DSA and now in CSA by breaking it into several articles. The article 57 has been divided into 4 parts and incorporated in the articles 25, 28, 29, and 31 of the DSA. This has led to misuse of the act to and is in contradiction with the article 39 (2) of the constitution.

Dr. Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury delivered the concluding remarks by highlighting the fact that after the DSA was put into practice, people are in a constant state o terror, not knowing when and if they have committed a crime. He stated that this has severely hampered the democracy in our country. He urged everyone to speak up any way they can against the injustices these types of acts have brought and to firmly participate in the movement to reestablish democracy in our country, for it is the only way we can get back our freedom of speech and life.