Consider changes to the law: Bernicat

Responding to the newly enacted Digital Security Act 2018, which has created concern at home and abroad over press freedom and freedom of expression in the country, US Ambassador in Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat has encouraged the government to consider changes to the law.

“We encourage the Government of Bangladesh to consider changes to the law that would bring it into conformity with the Bangladesh Constitution and with Bangladesh's international commitments on human, civil and political rights,” she said in a statement yesterday.

The United States shares the concerns of the international community that the recently passed Act could be used to suppress and criminalise free speech, all to the detriment of Bangladesh's democracy, development and prosperity, Bernicat said.

She also said the United States welcomed Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu's initiative to meet the media representatives to discuss their concerns about the law.