Bangladesh Blocks The Wire for an Article Against the Government?

The article accused the Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency of secretly detaining academic Mubashar Hasan.

The article in question accused the Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency of secretly detaining academic Mubashar Hasan

(Photo: bdnews24/IANS)

The Bangladesh government has blocked internet access to The Wire in the country after it published an article ( Bangladesh Academic Mubashar Hasan “Held by Military Intelligence Agency”) that allegedly didn’t go down well with the government. The article was about the role of the country’s military intelligence agency in the illegal pick-up and secret detention of the university academic Mubashar Hasan.

According to The Wire, Touseef Shahriar, the senior assistant director at the Systems & Services Division of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, sent an email to international internet gateway (IIG) operators ordering them to block The Wire

Shahriar, who confirmed the government’s decision to The Wire, however, did not specify any reasons. He also confirmed that the request for blocking The Wire came from law enforcement agencies.

The article in question accused the Bangladesh’s military intelligence agency, the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), of secretly detaining academic Hasan. It also put light on the alleged widespread practice of ‘enforced disappearances’ in Bangladesh since the Awami League government came to power.

Reportedly, the Bangladesh government has ordered blocking of news that speaks against the government in the past as well.

As reported by The Wire, In May 2017, Swedish Radio’s website was blocked after it had published an article about a senior officer, from Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion, admitted his organisation’s role in extra-judicial killings across the country. In 2016 as well, the Bangladesh government blocked 35 news websites.

(With inputs from The Wire)

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