Bangladesh’s draft Cyber Security Bill is nearly identical to the Digital Security Act it is meant to replace, with similar repressive provisions and harsh punishments that curb free speech, analysts said Thursday.
Bangladesh’s Election Commission met with representatives of Facebook’s parent company Thursday to seek the social media giant’s support in removing political posts deemed as disinformation during the run-up to national polls, officials said.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry warned Western countries on Wednesday to not engage in “undiplomatic behavior” through public criticism ahead of national polls, after officials met with ambassadors from 13 countries who had collectively condemned an assault on an independent candidate.
One person died and about 200 others were injured in clashes between activists from Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League and the BNP as the main opposition party staged anti-government protests in Dhaka and other cities on Tuesday, police and officials said.
Bangladesh’s anti-corruption agency on Monday charged 146 people, including a top bank official said to be close to the ruling party, for the alleged embezzlement of U.S. $209 million from BASIC Bank.
Dozens of people were reported injured in violence between supporters of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the ruling Awami League as the BNP staged protests in several cities against electricity cuts amid a nationwide heat wave.
Police fired tear gas and arrested members of Bangladesh’s main opposition party who took to Dhaka’s streets to protest as their leader, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, went on trial Tuesday on new charges of alleged corruption.
Bangladesh leader Sheikh Hasina met with World Bank officials in Washington on Monday, state media reported, in a visit that analysts described as an attempt to gain the lending institution’s support for her country’s distressed economy in an election year.
Bangladesh will use the Chinese yuan to repay a U.S. $318 million loan owed to the state-owned Russian firm Rosatom so construction can continue on a nuclear power plant in the country, a company official said.
Bangladesh’s High Court on Wednesday in a rare move ordered the government to conduct an inquiry into the March 24 death of a woman in the custody of the Rapid Action Battalion security force, which Washington in 2021 sanctioned for human rights violations.