Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Bangladesh government has opted for intensive and intrusive surveillance and monitoring of social media ahead of the national election, raising concern over a chilling effect on freedom of speech.
"Draconian new laws and policies are being used to target political opponents, journalists, internet commentators, and broadcasters," the New York-based international rights body opined on Friday.
It further said the national election in Bangladesh is due by January 2019. Opposition parties and independent observers fear that the increasing crackdown on privacy and free expression is an attempt to limit freedom of speech and criticism of the government in the election period.
"Bangladesh is using claims about public security to make opponents and critics silent," said Brad Adams, executive director of HRW Asian division.
"The government's surveillance practices are violating the rights to privacy and freedom of expression ahead of the election," he added.
The HRW statement said Bangladesh has 28 million Facebook users. Since social media emerged as a key tool to express dissent and organise protests, the authorities concerned have monitored various platforms and internet-based communication.
This has already led to arrests for using social media to criticise the government.
On October 9, 2018, the government announced the formation of a nine-member monitoring cell to "detect rumours" on social media, including Facebook.
On October 10, new Digital Security Act (DSA) came into force, replacing Section 57 of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act with provisions that are in several respects more broadly drawn and carry even harsher sentences.
It grants the law-enforcement authorities wide-ranging powers to remove or block online information that "harms the unity of the country or any part of it, economic activities, security, defence, religious values or public order or spreads communal hostility and hatred."
Recent policies, directing security agencies to monitor social media and prosecute users who offend the government, and the draconian provisions of new DSA violate the rights.
There are also concerns that DSA will be used, as Section 57 was used earlier, to crack down on peaceful social media content, the statement noted.
"There is a chilling atmosphere for journalism and free speech in Bangladesh right now, with even those sharing innocuous social media posts are at risk of arrest and harassment," Mr Adams said.
"The government should immediately end this assault on fundamental political rights, and instead create an environment conducive to ensuring that Bangladeshis are able to elect their leaders without fear."
Police in Bangladesh have registered hundreds of complaints under ICT Act, including against authors of social media posts and journalists criticising the political leadership and the ruling Awami League.
The government previously announced launching of its Cyber Threat Detection and Response Project by installing mass monitoring equipment at key points on Bangladesh's networks to bolster widespread telecom and internet surveillance.
The project, designed to allow the authorities to track criminal activities, provides enormous power to monitor internet usage, raising concerns over violations of privacy rights on a mass scale.
The government also ordered security agencies to intensify their surveillance on online expression. The agencies include Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
"Besides maintaining law and order in the country, we will implement this project to monitor the evil propaganda and militant activities on the social media and bring the people behind these to justice," a RAB spokesperson said, the statement went on saying.
Journalists also have cause for concern because of the recent history of using the existing laws covering sedition and criminal defamation to threaten and detain them for exercising free expression and peaceful speech.
A journalist told HRW, "There is a blanket of fear spreading over the country, and I don't know when we are going to be freed."
