Journalists won’t be jailed under Cyber Security Act: Minister

Law Minister Anisul Huq has said that the journalists will have to be fined instead of serving jail in defamation cases under the Cyber Security Act that has been approved by the cabinet division.

From now on, journalists will be fined but not jailed in defamation cases under the Cyber Security Act 2023, Anisul Huq told reporters at his ministry office in Dhaka on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the cabinet division in principle gave its final nod to replace the controversial Digital Security Act (DSA) with Cyber Security Act 2023, paving the path of freedom of expression in the country.

The DSA is being changed and many of its clauses will be incorporated in the Cyber Security Act, said the law minister, adding that a major amendment is going to be brought to some clauses of the DSA.

The draft law will be placed in parliament in September, he added.

People from different professions raised demands for repealing or amending the law in the wake of random misuse of the DSA.

Earlier on April 1, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on the Bangladesh government to immediately revoke the DSA and its implementation.

Later on July 13, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq during a meeting with a US delegation, said that the DSA will be amended within September.

The DSA was enacted on October 8, 2018, aiming to prevent the spread of sectarianism, extremism, terrorist propaganda and hatred against religious or ethnic minorities through social, print and electronic media.

However, since its inception, DSA has been strongly criticised by various quarters home and abroad.