Journalists need not worry about the passing of the Digital Security Bill as it would not gag them, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in parliament yesterday.

This law will hurt the media, democracy and freedom of expression. Citizens and the media will be victimised. Fundamental rights will be curtailed.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Post, Telecom and ICT is to hold a meeting with the stakeholders tomorrow to hear their views on the proposed Digital Security Act, 2018.

The proposed Digital Security Act to replace section 57 of the ICT Act is in some respects even broader than the one it seeks to replace and violates the country's international obligation to protect freedom of speech, Human Rights Watch says.

The government is not reluctant to amend the proposed Digital Security Act and rid it of any vagueness, Law Minister Anisul Huq said yesterday.

The parliamentary standing committee on post telecom and ICT will hold talks with the media representatives on May 22 to discuss issues regarding the proposed Digital Security Act, law minister says.

The parliamentary standing committee on telecom and ICT says it will sit with newspaper editors, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and owners of the electronic media to know their concern about the Digital Security Act-2018.

Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday assured the Editors' Council of removing loopholes and vagueness in the digital security act

The law minister assures editors of arranging a meeting with parliamentary standing committee on post, telecom and ICT to place their proposals regarding amendments to the Digital Security Act.

Digital security act has been made not to gag freedom of expression rather to stop spreading of falsehood and militant activities through social media to protect minority community, Prime Minister's ICT affairs adviser Swajib Wazed Joy says.

The European Union and 10 countries including the US and the UK have expressed concern over several sections of the proposed Digital Security Act-2018 as what they said is it “would suppress freedom of expression in multiple ways”. Ambassadors of the countries and the EU or their representatives expressed their worry at a meeting with Law Minister Anisul Huq at his secretariat office in Dhaka yesterday.

The road transport and bridges minister has urged the journalist community not to worry about the proposed Digital Security Act-2018, saying that all stakeholders would be consulted before getting it passed.

The Shampadak Parishad has voiced deep concern over the inclusion of the controversial Section-57 of the ICT Act and some strict provisions in the draft of the Digital Security Act 2018.

Two senior ministers yesterday said the Digital Security Act-2018 would not be applied to journalists if they wrote on corruption and illegal acts as it would not be considered as spying.

The freedom of the press and expression was put to the sword, feared journalists and rights defenders as the cabinet yesterday approved the draft of the Digital Security Act-2018 yesterday.

Amid calls for the repeal of section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act, the government has decided to revoke the controversial section that is prone to misuse.

The government will clarify its position on the controversial section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act while placing the proposed Digital Security Act before the parliament, Law Minister Anisul Huq said yesterday.

Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu says the government is going to formulate the Digital Security Act to ensure common people's digital security, not to harass journalists.

More than two dozen editors, journalists, teachers, social media users and free thinkers have already been sued on charges of defamation under Section 57 since March this year.

Despite the law minister's repeated assurance that Section 57 of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Act would be scrapped, the controversial section remains alive and well and is being increasingly used to file cases against journalists. Now it is reported that, while Section 57 will be removed from the ICT Act, it will be incorporated in the new Digital Security Act, 2016.