Amnesty Criticises Restrictions on Expression Under Yunus Govt

Bangla Press Desk: Amnesty International has said that unnecessary restrictions were imposed on freedom of expression, association, and assembly under the interim government led by Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus.

In a report published on 23 April, the organisation claimed that human rights activists and others faced arbitrary arrests and harassment for exercising their right to freedom of expression.The organisation stated that throughout the year, human rights defenders, journalists, writers, bloggers, and poets who exercised their freedom of expression were subjected to harassment, violence, and arrest. It added that the Cyber Security Act of 2023 — which the previous government had used to suppress critics and which was considered contrary to freedom of expression — continued to be used by the interim government to curb activism.

Amnesty further said that the law was later repealed and replaced by the “Cyber Security Ordinance”, which came into effect in May and is set to remain in force until receiving final approval from the next parliament. However, the organisation noted that the ordinance still contains vague and overly broad definitions of terms such as “obscene videos” and “sexual harassment”, as well as an unclear interpretation of “cyber terrorism”, leaving room for misuse of these provisions.Meanwhile, Amnesty reported that journalist Anis Alamgir was arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act in December 2025 for speaking in support of the now-banned Awami League. According to the organisation, the allegation against him and four others was that they had expressed support for the Awami League through their social media accounts and other platforms.

The Amnesty report also highlighted the killing of Hadi and the subsequent attacks on media outlets. It said violent protests broke out on 18 December following the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi, one of the leaders of the July uprising. During the unrest, the offices of two media outlets — The Daily Star and Prothom Alo — were attacked and set on fire, the editor of New Age was harassed, and the cultural organisation Chhayanaut was also targeted.