Global Voices Advocacy » Rezwan

Accused of Blasphemy, Three Bloggers Detained in Bangladesh

Rezwan — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 06:16:42 +0000

It has been confirmed that the Detective Branch of the Bangladesh Police detained three bloggers — Rasel Parvez, Mashiur Rahman Biplob and Subrata Adhikari Shuvo — on the evening of Monday, April 1 for their alleged write-ups demeaning Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. They were initially summoned to the police station and later taken to their homes where their laptops, mobile phones and other devices were confiscated. They were then moved to an unknown location.

This comes after the government took steps against bloggers and Facebook users who made derogatory remarks about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. On March 31, representatives of hardliner Muslim clerics submitted a list of 84 bloggers [bn] to a committee formed by the Home Ministry, accusing the bloggers of atheism and writing against Islam.

It is important to acknowledge that Bangladesh is a non-religious parliamentary democracy, so there is no sharia law or blasphemy law. If a person claims to be an atheist, he or she has the same rights as other citizens. However, Under Section 295A of Bangladesh's Penal Code (1860), any person who has a “deliberate” or “malicious” intention of “hurting religious sentiments” can be subject to imprisonment.

The three three anti-Islamic bloggers stand with computers and police in the capital. Image by Rehman Asad. Copyright Demotix (2/4/2013)

Intellectual, physicist, blogger, and writer Rasel Parvez has two primary blogs, one hosted in Somewherein.net platform, and another in Amarblog.com. However, accusations against him concern content published on another blog, under the pseudonym Opobak.

Mashiur Rahman Biplob blogs under the pseudonym Allama Shoytaan (Mullah Devil) on various sites including Somewherein.net.

Subrata Adhikari Shuvo writes for Amarblog.com using his own name. Accusations against him concern content published under the nickname Lalu Koshai.

It remains to be seen whether the authorities will be able to prove that these bloggers had any “deliberate” or “malicious” intention of “hurting religious sentiments” with their writings. The Detective Branch will have a press briefing at noon on April 2 (Bangladesh time).

Screenshot of Rasel's blog hosted in the blogging platform Somewherein.net

Since April 1, the popular blogging platform Amarblog.com has become inaccessible in Bangladesh. However, the blog is accessible via proxy. In a statement on the detentions, the blog hosting platform said:

আমারব্লগ আটক করা সকল ব্লগারের নিঃশর্ত মুক্তি দাবী করে এবং আশা প্রকাশ করে যে বাংলা ব্লগে স্বাধীনতাবিরোধী যে কোনো প্রচারণা ও প্রকাশনার বিরুদ্ধে সদাতৎপর আমারব্লগ এবং তার ব্লগারদের হয়রানী করা অতিস্বত্তর বন্ধ হবে!আমরা অতি সত্বর বাংলাদেশ সরকারের আরো কাছে জানতে চাই আদৌ সরকার আমারব্লগ ডট কমে বাংলাদেশে ব্লক করেছে কিনা এবং কি কারনে করা হয়েছে তাও জানতে চাই।

Amarblog demands unconditional release of all detained bloggers and hopes that harassment against bloggers and Amarblog platform, which is vocal against anti-liberation propaganda, will be stopped immediately. We also want to know from the Bangladesh government whether Amarblog.com is being blocked in Bangladesh and for what reason?

Update:

Award winning blogger Asif Mohiuddin was detained by detective branch of police on Wednesday. The Daily Star says:

The arrest came amid strong criticism over the government role, which many termed as “submissive”, following some radical Islamist organisations’ threat of unleashing anarchy if “atheist bloggers are not hanged”.

MK Alamgir, the Home Minister of Bangladesh informed that the Ministry has identified 11 bloggers “who have hurt religious sentiment of Muslims through their writings”. Four of them have already been arrested and hunt is on for seven more bloggers.

Hefajat-e Islam, a so-called Islamist organisation campaigning against the Shahbag movement initiated by the bloggers, will march towards Dhaka on April 6 and have threatened of non-stop shutdown and letting loose 313 members of suicide squad if the government obstructs its march.

Bangladesh Authorities Go After ‘Anti-Muslim’ Bloggers

Rezwan — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:58:21 +0000

As deadly clashes between Islamist activists and authorities continue to escalate religious tensions in Bangladesh, the country's telecommunications authority is making moves to silence bloggers deemed anti-Muslim or anti-state.

Award-winning blogger Asif Mohiuddin and three other bloggers have become the latest target of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, according to online news site Timesworld24.com [bn]. The commission recently contacted Somewhereinblog.net, the largest blogging platform in Bangladesh, requesting that the four blogs be taken down from the site.

In a report on its website, Somewhereinblog.net officially acknowledged that it had removed the four blogs in line with the government request.

The Bangladesh government formed [bn] a nine-member committee on March 13, 2013 to track bloggers and Facebook users who made derogatory remarks about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, a member of the committee, has requested information on a number of bloggers from different blogging platforms in an effort to ban certain writers considered insulting to Islam or anarchistic.

This development comes after Islamists had claimed that bloggers who support the ongoing Shahbag movement – which demands capital punishment for the country's war criminals, some of which are high-ranking leaders of the country's largest Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami – are atheist and anti-Islamic, and foster anti-social elements.

Some Islamist activists have gone so far to declare that Shahbag bloggers will be slaughtered in public. Blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was on the forefront of the Shahbag movement and wrote frequently about religious fundamentalism in Bangladesh, was brutally murdered outside his home in capital city Dhaka on February 15, 2013.

Mohiuddin, a self proclaimed atheist, has been vocal for the Shahbag movement and wrote against religion and religious politics. But whether his blogging has anything to do with inciting religious violence and hatred is yet to be proven. In January 2013, he was brutally attacked by unknown assailants, presumably for his writings. The police recently arrested four persons who revealed that they attacked Mohiuddin on instruction of a religious extremist.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle Syeda Gulshan Ferdous Jana, founder of Somewhereinblog.net said:

This is the first time in the over seven years of somewhereinblog.net that authorities have issued written instructions to discipline bloggers. The email named four bloggers, including Asif Mohiuddin's blog profile, and advised us to permanently remove all of these blogs immediately.

Mohiuddin, whose blog won the best social activism blog from the Deutsche Welle Best Of Blogs Awards 2012, has suffered backlash from his writing in the past. He was arrested in 2011 during an offline protest and police suggested that he should stop writing.

Blogger Asif Mohiuddin. Image by Siam Sarower Jamil. Copyright Demotix (10/2/2013)

On March 20, 2013, Mohiuddin and seven other bloggers were sued by an individual in the northern Bangladeshi district of Natore [bn] on charges of libeling Islam, God, and the Prophet Muhammad. Another lawsuit against these bloggers in Chittagong was dismissed on March 6, 2013 for lack of evidence.

Mohiuddin commented in a Facebook note [bn] about his recent ban:

প্রায় প্রতিদিন ধর্মের পক্ষে অসংখ্য ব্লগে অসংখ্য লেখা পোস্ট হয়। অথচ অনলাইনে শুধুমাত্র “আমি প্রচলিত ধর্মে অবিশ্বাসী” এই কথাটুকু বলার অপরাধে অসংখ্য অশ্রাব্য গালিগালাজের সম্মুখীন হয়েছি।

Each day, many posts are published on religion. But when I wrote only that “I do not believe in traditional religions”, I was attacked by many.

In the same post, he called the commission's efforts to shut down blogs a dangerous precedent:

কোন ব্লগারের লেখা সেই ব্লগটির নিজস্ব আইন অনুসারে বেআইনী মনে হলে বা শর্তাবলী লঙ্ঘিত হয়েছে বলে মনে হলে ব্লগ কর্তৃপক্ষই তার সিদ্ধান্ত নেবে। ব্লগ কর্তৃপক্ষ এই বিষয়ে স্বাধীন এবং কোন লেখা থাকবে আর কোন লেখাটি থাকবে না, তা সিদ্ধান্ত নেয়ার দায়িত্ব কোনভাবেই কোন ক্ষমতাশালী মহলকে দেয়া যাবে না। ভেবে দেখুন, আজ এই অজুহাতে কারো ব্লগ সরকার বন্ধ করে দিতে সক্ষম হলে সরকার ভেবে নেবে ব্লগারদের তারা নিয়ন্ত্রণ করতে সক্ষম। তাই কাল আরেকজন ব্লগারের ব্লগও তারা বাতিল করার আবদার তুলবে। কোন সরকারই অনন্তকাল থাকবে না, আগামিতে কোন ধর্মান্ধ গোষ্ঠী ক্ষমতায় চলে আসলে পরিস্থিতি কোনদিকে যাবে?

If the writings of any blogger defies any of the rules of the blog or is deemed illegal then the blog owners can decide on that. Which posts should be published or not should be at the discretion of the blog platform, not the regulatory authorities. Just imagine, if the authorities can manage to shut down a voice by forcing the platforms to do so they can start believing that they can control the bloggers. So they will find another reason to ban another blogger. The government will change and imagine if any radical Islamist government comes to power what will happen?

In an interview with Deutsche Welle radio Mohiuddin has said that he will not give up blogging.

“Stop authoritarian aggression against bloggers. Blogging is our right.” Image courtesy Asif Mohiuddin

Bangladesh is a non-religious parliamentary democracy, so there is no sharia law or blasphemy law. If anybody claims to be an atheist, he or she has the same rights as other citizens. However, Under Section 295A of Bangladesh's Penal Code (1860), any person who has a “deliberate” or “malicious” intention of “hurting religious sentiments” can be subject to imprisonment.

The commission has stated [bn] that according to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Act, it can ask required information from any individual or institution who uses the Internet. However, blogging platform Amarblog [bn] published a statement on March 22, 2013 saying that it won't jeopardize bloggers’ privacy at the request of the government. It questioned the commission's legal authority to ask for blogger information as well as questioned if it has jurisdiction over Amarblog which is registered in the United Kingdom and hosted on an overseas server.

Bloggers have also doubted the legal basis for such demands.

Blogger Mohammad Munim [bn] criticized the commission on Muktangon, a community blog:

বাংলাদেশের সংবিধানে মত প্রকাশের পূর্ণ মৌলিক অধিকার সকল নাগরিককেই দেওয়া হয়েছে। [..] BTRC নামের তথাকথিত স্বাধীন এই কমিশনটির হাতে যে-কোন ব্লগ বা ওয়েবসাইট বন্ধের সুইচ থাকলেও সে-সুইচের ব্যবহার দেশের সংবিধান মেনেই করতে হবে, কোন কর্তাব্যক্তির খেয়ালখুশিমতো নয়।

According to Bangladesh Constitution, every citizen has the right to express their own opinion freely. [...] The self-proclaimed independent commission may have the switch to block any website or blog, but they will have to act according to due process as per the constitution, not at the whim of some officials.

Blogger and activist Rayhan Rashid [bn] wrote on Facebook that the government might be piggybacking off of rising religious tensions in order to broaden its power:

বিটিআরসি'র সাম্প্রতিক এই অপতৎপরতার সাথে কোথায় যেন জামাত-শিবিরের শাহবাগ আন্দোলনকে “নাস্তিকদের আন্দোলন” হিসেবে সুযোগসন্ধানী ব্র্যান্ডিংয়ের মিল আছে। জামাত-শিবিরের দরকার ছিল শাহবাগ আন্দোলনকে প্রশ্নবিদ্ধ করা, আর সে লক্ষ্যে তারা ১৯৭১ এর মতোই অস্ত্র হিসেবে বেছে নিয়েছে ধর্মীয় উম্মাদনা, আর বিভাজন-বিদ্বেষকে। সরকার বা বিটিআরসি'রও একটা সুযোগ দরকার ছিল যাকে পূঁজি করে স্বাধীন চিন্তার এই শেষ প্লাটফর্মগুলোকে কোনোভাবে নিয়ন্ত্রণের আওতায় আনা যায় – এখানেও নাস্তিকতা, ধর্মীয় অনুভুতি ব্যবহৃত হচ্ছে সুযোগসন্ধানীর অস্ত্র হিসেবে।

There is a striking similarity between the commission's recent “anti-religion” ban order and the Jamaat-Shibir branding of the Shahbag protests as an “atheist movement”. Jamaat-Shibir wanted to taint the Shahbag movement, and they did so by inciting religious tensions and enacting a division/hatred strategy. The commission or the government might have also exploited this opportunity to assert some kind of control on these free speech platforms. “Atheism”, “hurting religious feelings” keywords are being used as opportunistic tools.

Blogger Farhana Ahmed [bn] explained on Mukta Mona (Free Thinkers), a blog on freedom of expression, the reasoning behind why atheists and secular online activists are being targeted:

আমার মনে হয়, এই রকম ঘটার পেছনে দুটো বিষয় কাজ করছে। প্রথমটা অনেকটা তাত্ত্বিক, নাস্তিকদের নিয়ে ধর্মব্যবসায়ী বা অ-ব্যবসায়ী দু’শ্রেণীর এস্টাব্লিসমেন্টের পক্ষের লোকজনের মনে সন্দেহ ব্যাপক। এসটাব্লিসমেন্টের স্তম্ভগুলোর মধ্যে ধর্ম অন্যতম শক্তিশালী মাধ্যম, কখনো কখনো তা রাষ্ট্রের চেয়েও শক্তিশালী, রাষ্ট্রকেই ধর্মের মদদ নিতে হয়। এসটাব্লিশমেন্টের অন্য স্তম্ভগুলোও ধ্বসে পড়ার উপক্রম হলে মদদ মাঙ্গে ধর্মের। [..] বিনা প্রশ্নে মেনে নেওয়া, অতিপ্রাকৃত শক্তির ভয়ে ভীত করে রাখা—এইসব অস্ত্র ব্যবহার করে ধর্ম তার কার্য হাসিল করে। নারী পুরুষের পুরুষতান্ত্রিক শোষণের বিরুদ্ধে সচেতন হয়ে উঠলে, ধর্মই তাকে ঠান্ডা করে; মালিকের বিরুদ্ধে শ্রমিক যেতে পারে না, কারণ আল্লা যাকে এই যামানায় কিছু দেননি, আখেরাত তো তারই জন্য। রাষ্ট্রক্ষমতায় থাকার জন্য রাজনৈতিক দলগুলোর সহজ ব্যবহার্য অস্ত্র হলো ধর্ম।

I thinks there are two reasons behind this. The first one is theoretical, both the Islamist hardliner and practicing Muslims are skeptic about atheists. Religion is very powerful, sometimes more than the state such as when the state has to accept the help of religion. If any of those establishments are in trouble, they take refuge in religion. [..] Religion accomplishes their job by deploying instruments like blind faith, taking things for granted, and keeping people in fear. When patriarchal oppression is protested by women, religion keeps them in check, workers cannot revolt against autocratic employers as religion reminds that for those who have less in this world, there is an afterlife waiting for them. To remain in power the simplest of weapons is religion.

She continued:

দ্বিতীয় দিকটা শাহবাগের গণজাগরণ মঞ্চের প্রতিক্রিয়ার সাথে জড়িত। নাস্তিক মরলে বা মার খেলে তার প্রতি যে ঔদাসীন্য দেখাচ্ছেন আন্দোলনের সহযোদ্ধারা তাতে করে নাস্তিকরা জামাত-শিবির-হি্যবুতের সবথেকে সহজ টার্গেটে পরিণত হয়েছেন।

The second reason is the reaction to the Shahbag mass-uprising. Being labeled as an atheist is a distraction even among fellow protesters, so the atheists are becoming an easy target for the [religious political establishments] Jamaat-Shibir-Hijbut Tahrir.

Update:

According to the latest reports, the nine-member committee participated in a discussion forum with the clerics community of the country. A list of 84 bloggers and Facebook users have been submitted and the committee asked from the community concrete evidence against their allegations. The committee has publicized an email account where complaints on blasphemous contents will be received.

Bangladesh: Facebook Temporarily Blocked

Rezwan — Sun, 30 May 2010 12:32:10 +0000

Bangladesh has become the second country in Asia after Pakistan to block the entire Facebook domain in recent times. On 28th May, 2010 Friday at around 8:30 the ban was executed on charges of malicious propaganda against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and hurting religious feelings, reports [bn] blogger and journalist Biplob Rahman at MuktoMona blogging platform. However the site was still accessible via mobile (m.facebook.com).

Newspapers soon confirmed quoting high officials of Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) that Facebook was temporarily blocked.

Earlier, the BTRC had directed internet data service handlers Mango Telecom and Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd to find a way to block antisocial contents posted by Facebookers.

But the two companies failed to fix the problem, which prompted the government to block the entire site, said the official, asking not to be named.

The Daily Star

According to Facebook there are around 900,000 Facebook users in Bangladesh and 60% of them are aged between 18-24 years. Many netizens, like Sukanta Rai at Prothom Alo Blog had this question in mind:

ফেসবুক কি দোষ করল কেউ কি আমারে বলবা?

What did Facebook do can anybody tell me?

S. M. Mahbub Morshed at Sachalayatan informs:

বাংলাদেশের দ্বিতীয় জনপ্রিয় সাইট ফেইসবুকে হাসিনা-খালেদার ব্যাঙ্গাত্মক ছবি প্রকাশের পর মাহাবুব আলম রডিনকে গ্রেপ্তার করে র‍্যাব। এর কিছুক্ষণ পরেই বাংলাদেশ থেকে ফেইসবুক এক্সেস না করার খবর আসতে শুরু করে।

After publishing perverted images of Hasina and Khaleda (The Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition) in the second most popular site in Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (RAB – a special force) arrested a youth named Mahbub Alam Rodin. Bangladeshis could not access Facebook soon after that.

Chitpotang at Unheard Voices blog wonders whether a threat from some religious parties prompted the government to take this decision:

That’s the “official” eyewash. What’s the real reason? Hmm, could it have something to do with Naya Diganta and Khatme Nabuwwat, Amini, et al’s return in the form of exporting Pakistan’s Facebook ban for the Mohammed Cartoon Contest? The threats to hold a rally the day after BNP’s June rally that will be even bigger? As usual AL (Awami League) responds in only way it knows to an Islamist/Rightist threat, cave in immediately.

However Aminul Islam Sajib at Life with technology opines:

Although the BTRC is saying that the site has been blocked for hosting anti-religious and pornographic contents, I feel that the site is blocked mainly for the reason that caricatures of two political leaders were shared on the site. The government could take necessary steps to remove those contents. Instead they are blocking us for their own interest and trying to make us understand that the reason is something else (anti-religious stuffs). Don’t they know that there are over hundreds of proxies such as hidemyass.com, redfish.tk (giving you the links so that you can still access the network) to gain access to Facebook. So, why ban Facebook? Banning Facebook does not block people’s access to the site. It’s like a showdown that we have banned Facebook on grounds of being abused.

The Bangladeshi netizens are astonished and outraged by all these drama. Bloggers like and https Shahriar at Cadet College Blog are explaining how to easily circumvent the ban by using https and other web proxies. However, Aranya Anam at Amar Blog warns [bn] netizens to be cautious about using proxy sites and provides some useful links.

Haseeb at Sachalayatan names the ban [bn] as “commerce of sentiments”.

Arup Rahee at Somewherein comments:

ফেসবুক বন্ধ করা কোন সমাধান না। কেউ কোন বিষয়ে কোনখানে মতামত, সমালোচনা, ব্যঙ্গ-বিদ্রুপ ইত্যাদি করলে সেই মাধ্যমটাকেই বন্ধ করা খুব একটা কাজে যে আসে না, তা ইতিহাস বারবার প্রমান করতেছে।

The Facebook ban is not a solution. If somebody criticizes, caricatures or opines against somebody/something, banning the media is not a solution against that – it is being proven across history.

Samir Kumar Ghosh says:

আমার মতে এই উদ্যোগ টি নেয়ার আগে সরকারের একটু ভাবা উচিৎ ছিলো। সরকার যদি এসব করার ব্যাপারে সবাইকে সতর্ক করে দিতেন বা আইনের ভয় দেখাতেন তাহলে হয়তো এর চেয়ে বেশি ফল দিতো।

I think the government should have done some thinking before banning Facebook. If the government issued some alerts and some warnings – it would have been more effective.

However there were some opinions supporting the ban. Guru Bhai at Somewherein says:

যেসময় ওদের খেলার মাঠে বন্ধুদেরকে নিয়া খেলার কথা অথবা হোমওয়ার্ক করার কথা ,সেইসময় মোবাইল বা কম্পিউটার নিয়ে সোশ্যাল নেটওয়ারকিং এর নামে পরকীয়ায় বা ভার্চুয়াল ডেটিংয়ে (কিংবা অন্য কিছুতে) ব্যস্ত ,যা একটি স্বাধীন সার্বভৌম রাষ্ট্রের জন্য অত্যন্ত লজ্জাজনক

When these youths should have been spending their time playing in the field or doing their home work, they spoil their time doing virtual dating (or similar things) using social networking – which is shameful for a sovereign country.

Twitter users are also expressing their reactions:

taslimanasreen: Is banning contagious !! Pakistan banned facebook ! Now Bangladesh !

julu_vai: govt. in bangladesh, by closing facebook for their own personal anger, are causing needless pain to millions. Where is my Freedom of speech?

kowsheek: Finally govt realised that facebook is injurious for pm's health. #bangladesh

DarthShayan: People from #Bangladesh need to make a stand. We always let the political ppl dominate us. Is Bangladesh not a democracy with freedom?

A Facebook group named Withdraw the ban on Facebook in Bangladesh has been created. Kajal Abdullah at Somewherein reports that offline protests are also materializing:

অলরেডী প্রতিবাদ শুরু হয়ে গেছে। ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের শিক্ষার্থীরা আজ রাত ১২ টায় রাজু ভাস্কর্যের সামনে ফেসবুক বন্ধের প্রতিবাদে ব্যাপক প্রতিবাদ কর্মসূচী পালন করেছেন। এবং হুশিয়ারি দিয়েছেন অবিলম্বে ফেসবুক চালু না করে দিলে আগামী কাল থেকেই ঢাবি শিক্ষার্থীরা মানববন্ধনসহ নানা আন্দোলনে যাবে।

Protests have been started already. Some students of Dhaka University (DU) have arranged a large protest in front of the Raju monument at midnight. They have warned that if Facebook ban is not withdrawn soon the students of DU will take up human chain and other form of protests.

Nazrul Islam at Sachalayatan says:

আমরা প্রথমত একটা গণতান্ত্রিক সরকার চাই। যেই সরকার সবাইকে কথা বলার সুযোগ দিবে। সবার মত প্রকাশের সুযোগ দিবে।
ডিজিটাল বাংলাদেশ গড়ার স্বপ্ন দেখিয়ে বর্তমান সরকার ক্ষমতা নিলো। কিন্তু আমরা দেখলাম এই সরকার ডিজিটের কিছুই জানে না।

আমাদের সরকার জানেই না, যে এসব নিষেধাজ্ঞা কোনো কাজের কথা না। বর্তমান দুনিয়ায় নিষেধাজ্ঞার চেয়ে হাস্যকর কিছু নাই আসলে। যার দেখার সে ফেসবুক কেন, দুনিয়ার সবকিছু দেখতে পারবে। তবু সরকার নিষেধাজ্ঞা জারী করে। [..]

এই নিষেধাজ্ঞা হয়তো কয়েকদিন পরই তুলে নিতে হবে। কিন্তু এই সরকারের ইতিহাসে তা আজীবন রয়ে যাবে।

We want a democratic government which allows freedom of speech – ensures everybody's freedom of expression. This government has come into power promising a digital Bangladesh. But we are witnessing that it knows nothing about the term ‘digital'.

Our government does not know that these bans are not effective – there is nothing sillier than these in today's world. If anybody wants he/she can access Facebook or everything on the internet. Still the government goes for another ban.

They will perhaps be forced to withdraw this ban within a few days. But this will remain as a bad mark in the government's tenure.

Cyber Activism And Online Campaigns In The Middle East

Rezwan — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:34:03 +0000

Cyber Activism And Online Campaigns In Middle East

A presentation describing the current state of cyber activism in the Middle East and highlighting successful online campaigns. It answers the following questions among many more:

How are cyber activists using the Internet to pursue their goals?
What tools/platforms are they using and how effective are those tools?
Are bloggers today activists, citizen journalists, or something else?
What is the value of engaging with global, transnational networks of cyber activists?

Maldives: Dissident And Anti-Islamic Sites Blocked

Rezwan — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:28:36 +0000

Several dissident and alleged anti-Islamic websites were filtered recently in Maldives. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs ordered the Telecommunication Authority of Maldives (TAM) to block access to those websites.

Maldives Dissent informs:

A week after President Anni announced his intention of turning the Maldives into a sanctuary for oppressed writers, his government has blocked a dissident website. The telecommunications authority has blocked the raajjeislam.com website on the order of the Islamic ministry.

[..] The website was blocked a day after an audio clip by Foakaidhoo Imam Mohamed Shakeeb alleged that the state minister of Islamic affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed had threatened him.

In a followup post Maldives Dissent reports:

The list of websites banned by Anni's government is growing, all of them on the orders of the Ministry of Islam. According to Haveeru, eight websites have been blocked so far for allegedly publishing anti-Islamic and pro-Christianity content in the Dhivehi, the Maldivian language.

One of the banned websites, randomreflexions.com, an English language one, was reportedly targeted because it evoked debates and discussions around Islam. And, at least one of the banned websites, raajjeislam.com, may have been targeted for political reasons since it exposed tyranny by a state minister at the Islamic ministry.

A few months ago reports came out that The Ministry of Islamic Affairs is planning to block websites promoting Christianity aimed at Maldivians.

Jawish Hameed lists the blocked sites and predicts the possible reasons for the ban:

Seedhaahithun.com, sidahitun.com and gospelgo.com were apparently blocked for “promoting Christianity”. [..] The feydhooschool.info site was apparently blocked upon request from a “senior person” at the Feydhoo School. I seriously doubt the MoIA has the authorization to block any website under such flimsy pretense.

The blogger also informs that a mass blocking was used as all the domains under the IP adress of the targeted sites were also blocked:

That means there would be a total 909 unintended victim sites that fell prey to the mindless blocking of just these few site IP addresses! This has been confirmed been both on Dhiraagu and ROL connections.

Many Maldives bloggers like Al Mode condemned the ban. Breaking Tweets posts a roundup of Tweeter users of Maldives noting protests from the Maldivians:

@sofwath (Male, Maldives): You have not converted a man because you have silenced him

Ali Naafix indicates that there are political motives behind the ban:

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, controlled by Adhaalath party ( Opposition party- The Justice Party) is doing whatever they will and whatever they want.

The MDP menifesto clearly states that there will be a free scholarly body consisting of Sunni-Muslim scholars. However, Adhaalath has once again plotted to invade this free body. Instead of forming a free scholarly body, we have seen the formation and inauguration of the Fiqh Academy, headed by Dr. Abdul Majeed Abdul Baaree and consisting of mostly Adhaalath members or its supporters.

I condemn the act of Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Anni for showing a blind eye to it. I wish I can continue blogging.

Maldives Dissent has this message for the government:

Before the Maldives can become a safe haven for the dissidents of the world, it first needs to establish an environment for the freedom of expression of its own writers to flourish.

Bangladesh: YouTube and File Sharing Sites Blocked

Rezwan — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:08:27 +0000

Internet users in Bangladesh are not able to access YouTube since Friday (March 6, 2009) evening. Soon people discovered that other Social Media and file hosting/sharing sites like Esnips, mediafire etc. were also not accessible. Apparently these are blocked by the firewalls at IIG (International Internet Gateway) as these can be accessed by proxy.

Torpon appeals to the Bangladesh government not to takeaway the freedom of internet after providing some proofs of the filtering:

ঢাকায় ইউটিউবে ঢুকতে গিয়ে টাইম আউট হয়ে যাচ্ছিল দেখে অনেকে ভাবছিলেন যে ইউটিউবের সার্ভারের সমস্যা । এরপর দেখা যাচ্ছিল যে ইস্নিপস্ এও ঢোকা যাচ্ছে না । তখন সন্দেহ করা হলো যে সমস্যাটি অন্য কোন খানে । কোথাও ডেটা ব্লক হয়ে যাচ্ছে । প্রমাণ ছাড়া সরকার কে দোষ দেয়াটা অযৌক্তিক । কিন্তু অল্প কিছু সময়ের মধ্যে অভিজ্ঞ বাংলাদেশী নেটওয়ার্ক ইঞ্জিনিয়াররা বিভিন্ন জায়গা থেকে জানালেন সরকারী কোন সার্ভারের ফায়ারওয়ালে ইউটিউব সহ অনেক গুলো সাইট ব্লক করা হয়েছে।

While accessing YouTube from Dhaka a ‘time out error’ was being returned and people thought there was something wrong with YouTube Server. Soon people found out that they could not access E-snips (a file sharing site). So people feared that somewhere the data is being blocked. It is not logical to blame the government without proof and logic. But soon IT experts and network engineers from all over Bangladesh notified that YouTube and a few other sites are being blocked by a firewall in some government server.

Screenshot courtesy – Torpon

বাংলাদেশ লিনাক্স ইউজার গ্রুপের সার্ভার থেকে গুগল, ইউটিউব এবং ইস্নিপসের সাইটে ট্রেসরাউট কমান্ড দিয়ে দেখা গেছে, গুগল ঠিকই পৌছে যাচ্ছে গুগলের সার্ভারে কিন্তু বাকি দুটো আটকে গেছে বিটিটিবির ফায়ার ওয়ালে ।

When traceroute command was executed from the Bangladesh Linux user group server targeting Google, YouTube and E-snips sites the result showed that Google server could be reached but the other two were being stuck at BTTB Firewall.

Mango and BTCL (formerly BTTB) are the official IIGs (International Internet Gateway) in Bangladesh. Starting last April, by regulation, all Bangladeshis ISPs have to route their international traffic to either Mango, or BTCL, who send the traffic over either the submarine cable or the vsats.

The YouTube ban was confirmed [bn] by a Bangla Newspaper Prothom Alo. Twitter user Mahay Alam Khan reports on the ban on more sites:

mahayalamkhan: youtube, eSnips, midiafire, filefreak, upload-mp3 are banned or blocked in Bangladesh. Please, re-twitt.

Russell John speculates why the ban was executed:

Why did the Government do this? It's because of an audio recording that could “damage” the reputation of our great Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. For now they blocked YouTube and eSnips, but in the future there might be more sites. Maybe Facebook too? People shares a lot of stuff there.

After the recent BDR mutiny and massacre of army officers in Dhaka the Prime Minister met the aggrieved army officers in a confidential closed door meeting at Shenakunja where no press or outsiders were allowed. The conversions in the meeting and cellphone video recordings were leaked out, uploaded and shared using many file sharing sites including E-snips and YouTube. Unheard Voice blog discusses the issue of the leaked audio files which are being used by some quarters to create some political bickering and malign the army and the Prime Minister.

Dark ocean needs a lighthouse says:

If Bangladesh Govt thinks Internet is like Cellphone service then they are living in fools’ paradise. There are many ways people can bypass the blockage. [..] In this particular case anyone can use Anonymous proxy and bypass firewall!

Youtube, eSnips etc are very common and useful services. If Bangladesh Govt think any particular Audio and Video harmful for our society they could directly request Youtube to remove them. Such wild blockage is not only stupidity but also raises question about Govt's intention.

Some bloggers like Kayes Mahmud are providing proxy links so that others can access the blocked contents. Razon Sun points out that the contents of the meeting at Shenakunjo have already been published in a local newspaper [bn]. So there is actually no logic to block the internet. It may be mentioned here that Bangladeshis outside Bangladesh can easily access to these contents, which can be downloaded and shared by email.

Sushanta says:

প্রচারনা বন্ধ করার আগে দেখেন কিভাবে এটা রেকর্ড হলো? প্রথমে কোন সাইটে এটা আপ্লোড হয়েছে। সেনাকুঞ্জের সভার ভিডিও টা দেখেন ভালো করে কোন সেনা কর্মকর্তা মোবাইল হাতে চুপেচাপে রেকর্ডিং করছে। এটা ধরা তেমন কঠিন কাজ না।

Before trying to block the audio/videos please see how it was recorded and where it was first uploaded. Please check the video of the Shenakunja meeting to pin point who recorded it. It is not hard to find out.

Russell vents his frustration:

What's ironical is that it's the same Government that talks about “Digital Bangladesh” all the time. We now know what Digital Bangladesh is like.

Now the question is how to unblock YouTube and other file sharing sites in Bangladesh. We have seen in previous cases that the authorities do not recognize that such bans were carried out in the first place shifting the blame to technical glitches. In the absence of ‘Right To Information Act’ it is hard for a common citizen to ask why it was done. We hope that the authorities will unblock all these sites to prevent more controversies and bad publicity for the government.

Update (March 8, 2009):

Mash at Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying reports that “Bangladesh has blocked YouTube and some other file sharing websites after audio of a meeting between the Prime Minister and a large gathering of army senior officers was leaked and posted on YouTube.” Quoting news sources the blogger confirms that a government official defended blocking of YouTube and eSnips.

India: Blogger silenced

Rezwan — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:04:50 +0000

Chyetanya Kunte is an Indian blogger living in the Netherlands. On 27th of November, 2008 during the terror attacks in Mumbai he wrote a blog post (now available through Google cache) criticizing Indian private television channel New Delhi Television (NDTV) and particularly their group editor Barkha Dutt's coverage of the incident.

The post was deleted from Chyetanya's blog, and on 26th of January, 2009 he posted this apology confirming unconditional withdrawal of the post. This has sparked anger and strong condemnations in the Indian blogosphere.

Gaurav Sabnis at Vantage point predicts:

It does not take a PhD in reading between the lines to guess what happened. NDTV probably sent Kunte a legal notice, asking him to pull the post down, apologize, never write about them again, and pay an absurdly massive amount of money.

Retributions confirms quoting Barkha Dutts's Facebook message that Chyetanya Kunte was indeed served with a legal notice on 3rd of January. She apparently wrote:

Just because some random bloke can sit at a computer and make up stuff doesn't mean he or others like him need to be dignified with responding to their utter and total rubbish. rubbish is what it is. And as already mentioned. Mr. Kunte has been served a legal notice for libel by NDTV. That should give you some indication of where we and I stand. The freedom afforded by the Internet cannot be used to fling allegations at individuals or groups in the hope that they will then respond to things that aren't worthy of engagement.

Gaurav Mishra at Gauravonomics Blog compiles a roundup of condemnations by Indian bloggers for silencing Chyetanya. He also reveals:

Chyetanya sent me an email on January 25th, requesting me to take down the link to his post in my roundup of reactions to media coverage of the 11/26 Mumbai terror attack. I haven’t taken down the link and excerpt yet, but I have refrained from blogging about the issue so far out of concern for complicating Chyetanya’s and, perhaps, my own legal situation.

The fact is that Chyetanya wasn't the only one criticizing NDTV. According to Gaurav:

Bloggers were scathing in their criticism of Barkha Dutt’s sensationalistic coverage of the 11/26 Mumbai terror attack, accusing her of broadcasting sensitive information about the position of hostages and security troops, sensationalizing the news coverage, and being borderline hysterical, in general.

Nanopolitan tells NDTV in the post “congratulations NDTV“:

The apology you extracted reminds us of re-education programs that totalitarian regimes impose on dissidents. Or of re-induction rituals in third rate gangster movies.

Gargi at POV writes:

Amongst the institutions that has rapidly lost my trust, especially in the last two years, is the broadcast news media. Between the Prince episode, the Arushi Murder Case, running recorded footage with live bugs, with the 26/11 coverage – i have stopped watching TV news. I read magazines, i read newspapers and I read blogs. I do these because i have far more faith in the credibility of those who write – than the credibility of those who produce and package news on TV.

Updates of the Indian bloggers’ reactions can be found at Desipundit. Blogbharti posts an appeal:

We urge all bloggers to send us their views on this issue. And to protest NDTV’s highhanded efforts to curb our freedom of speech.

Photos: GV Advocacy Meeting in Budapest (June 26)

Rezwan — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:29:18 +0000

A large number of activists have gathered in Budapest to discuss about threats to online free speech and finding out ways towards a global anti-censorship movement.

The morning session has started and in the opening remarks the co-founder of Global Voices Online Ethan Zuckerman thanked everybody who came to the summit. Sami Ben Gharbia, the Advocacy director of Global voices noted that some activists could not make the summit due to visa problems and other restrictions.

Some pictures from the summit as it progresses:

The Morning Session:

Rob Faris listening to Rebecca MacKinnon

Some of the panelists

Some of the participants

Nart Villenueve: Detecting internet filtering

More participants

Roger Dingledine: Discussing TOR

Chris Walker: Between TOR & Psiphon

Afternoon Session:

Robert Guerra discussing the user perspective

Participants get interactive

Xiao Qiang on how to empower citizens’ voices

Paul Maassen questioning “is there a need for a fund for cyber activism?”

Participants placed their views

Brainstorming session

Please keep tuned in the summit website and this site for more updates.

Internet user profiling and surveillance process initiated in Bangladesh

Rezwan — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:30:22 +0000

We have got some disturbing news from Bangladesh.

E-Bangladesh reports:

RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) members assisted by BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) officials are conducting house-to-house searches in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet pinpointing each and every internet user with a fast connection. In an unprecedented move that clearly violates privacy rights and threatens freedom of speech and communication, a special cell comprising RAB and BTRC officials are now collecting user details — name, address, login and usage statistics — from all the ISPs (Internet Service Provider) in order to profile more than 450,000 internet subscribers in the country.

(Photo credit: E-Bangladesh)

In a memo no. BTRC/E&O/ISP-Gen.(302)/2007-1697, issued on September 26 (displayed above) BTRC is asking from 72 ISPs of Bangladesh the followings:

- To provide BTRC with details of bandwidth lease and usage.
- To provide details of “corporate/dedicated/shared” clients: Name, address, IP.
- To provide copies of technical agreements with connectivity providers.
- To reveal individual client MRTG URL (which monitors internet usage) with user id and passwords.
- Full subscription forms of users.
- ISPS must have complete information regarding the exact location of the client (No mention of what will happen with the scratch card dialup users with internet based simple registration).

Failure to comply with BTRC demands within 15 days of the letter date may result in closure of the ISP, the memo warned.

A System Administrator of one of the ISPs told E-Bangladesh:

If this continues then using internet in Bangladesh will become a crime sometime soon. We have to shut down our business. These people [RAB] enter our server rooms without permission and ask stupid questions and misbehaved. I was informed by my sources inside BTRC that these house-to-house searches will intensify from next Thursday. If they go to people’s houses like this they will stop using internet out of fear. If I have to reveal my admin password, user logins and passwords, what kind of service am I going to provide? Where in world they have found this formula?

Its apparently a process of registering the users through the ISPs. The authorities are collecting these sensitive info under duress from ISPs. Every users internet usage then can be monitored and they will be within reach because they have to provide address.

It is clearly a huge blow against human rights. So under whose authority BTRC is doing this is a question, which every Bangladeshi should be asking. A commenter in E-Bangladesh reveals:

This current action is primarily carried out under the purview of an amendment [of 2006] to BTRC Act, 2001 which basically gives blanket wiretapping/monitoring powers to law enforcing agencies. BTRC Act 2001: Amendment 97: a, b, c.

Although this amendment contradicts one of BTRC’s prime directives: “To ensure protection of the privacy of telecommunication.” (BTRC Act, 2001. Para 30(1)(f))

And I’m not sure searching individual private citizens’ residences are permitted even under the amended rules! And there may be doubts on the constitutionality of the entire 2006 amendment.

BBC Bangla Service picked up this story in its daily Parikrama of its evening show on October 4, 2007.

Transcripts:

Headline: Authorities in Bangladesh have taken measures to strengthen control on internet services provided.

Bangladesh Telecommunication regulatory commission (BTRC) has taken some measures to monitor the Internet usage after a meeting with the Internet Service Provider (ISP) Association of Bangladesh. BTRC has also decided to create a database of the internet users of Bangladesh.

The ISP association's general secretary Russel T Mahmood tells BBC Bangla: “The most important thing is security. You know that people are threatening with emails, using email for various things. If these are not controlled from a central point you cannot trace them. The whole thing is to establish a control mechanism. We ISPs have corporate clients as well as individual clients. They have sought the details of these clients from us. How much bandwidth they uses, what are their IPs, what are their usage patterns these are basically the requirement from us. What we can fathom is that this is to monitor and prevent people from doing anything outside the legal boundary with bandwidth purchased from ISPs.”