Opinion: Press freedom in Bangladesh needs a judge’s check

Opinion column. Press freedom in Bangladesh is again on the table, and the draft cyber law is the reason. Editors have now spoken. The government should listen.

The Editors’ Council issued 12 recommendations on the proposed amendments, the Daily Star reports. It asks for court approval before any journalist is arrested. It also asks for safeguards against surveillance and arbitrary removal of content.

The danger in the draft

The concern is concrete. The Committee to Protect Journalists says the draft creates an offence of spreading “rumour” and “misinformation”. It carries up to ten years in prison. Material could be caught if officials judge it “unsubstantiated or unverified”.

Who decides what is unverified? The state. That is the flaw. Reporters often publish facts that officials have not approved. Sometimes those facts are the story.

The record we should remember

CPJ notes that at least 255 journalists were sued under the Digital Security Act between 2018 and 2023. Writer Mushtaq Ahmed died in custody after nine months of pretrial detention. Those facts should shape every line of the new law.

To its credit, the government has not ignored the criticism. Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said on 28 September that prior court approval looks appropriate and reasonable. He also said the law will not be passed in haste. Good. Now put it in the text.

What a fair law would say

A fair law needs four things. First, no arrest of a journalist without prior judicial approval. Second, a narrow definition of harm, tied to real incitement. Third, no licence cancellation for news outlets. Fourth, independent oversight of any takedown order.

Free speech is not a gift from a ministry. It is the tool that lets citizens check power. A government that came to office after an uprising against censorship should know that better than anyone.

Press freedom matters everywhere. We made a similar argument about protest rights in our report on the Delhi detentions. Read the CPJ analysis and judge for yourself.

Fact basis: The Daily Star (18 Oct 2026); Committee to Protect Journalists (14 Sep 2026); Bonik Barta (28 Sep 2026). This is an opinion column. Views are the author’s.