“Jailing a journalist for reporting the death of a goat is beyond absurd,” CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler said from Washington, D.C. “Abdul Latif Morol should be released immediately, and the Bangladeshi government should urgently heed its pledges to reform the law that makes such abuses of the justice system possible.”
Section 57 of Bangladesh’s Information and Communications Act, which carries maximum penalties of 14 years in prison and fines of more than U.S. $100,000, criminalizes publishing material online deemed to be false; obscene; defamatory; likely to harm law and order; to tarnish the image of the state or an individual; to offend religious sentiments; or to provoke individuals or organizations, according to legal analyses. According to The Daily Star, at least 21 journalists have faced criminal complaints under its provisions in the last four months alone.
Bangladeshi Minister of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Anisul Huq has repeatedly promised that the provision would be scrapped from planned new legislation intended to replace the law, and that journalists would not be pursued under the law in the meantime, according to press reports.
“I have said it before and saying it again, if any obstruction is created against freedom of speech or against journalists, the investigation officers or agencies will look into it,” Huq told journalists in Dhaka earlier this month, according to media reports.