The United States State Department is concerned over what it
called a deteriorating climate for press freedom in Bangladesh due to an
increased use of a draconian digital security law to suppress dissent.

President Joe Biden‘s administration has promised to speak
out on human rights including media freedom as part of an effort to halt what
many fear is a decline of democracy worldwide.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has become a close US
ally in recent times. The US has welcomed her support on climate change and her
actions against Islamic extremism as well as her government’s welcome to
hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing a brutal military campaign
in neighbouring Myanmar.

“Bangladesh has shown improvements in protecting some human
rights over the past year but we do remain concerned about the infringement on
media and press freedoms,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said

“The government of Bangladesh has aggressively applied
the Digital Security Act, leading to dozens of arrests for comments critical of
the government’s handling of the pandemic, including using the act against
academic professionals for the first time. We urge the government of Bangladesh
to protect freedoms of expression and association, including members of the
press, and to ensure fair trial guarantees for all of those who have been
detained under the Digital Security Act,” he added.

In May, Bangladeshi police arrested Rozina Islam, an
investigative journalist for the Prothom Alo newspaper who has written scathing
stories about the government response to COVID-19. She was accused of stealing
health ministry documents. Hundreds have been detained since the government
imposed the Digital Security Act in 2018.