Mushfiqul Fazal, UN correspondent
Journalists have a right to be able to operate their news sites freely and openly, Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, has said.
He said this while responding to a question regarding Bangladesh’s Information and broadcasting minister Hasan Mahmud remarks that a letter had been sent to the Department of Posts and Telecommunications to block the links of 191 online news portals.
In the briefing, UN correspondent M Mushfiqul Fazal asked “Bangladesh Government has ordered 191 news portals to be blocked, as they are doing it very often, and my news portal JustNewsBD, blocked from long ago. So what is your comment about freedom of expression in Bangladesh?”
In response, Stéphane Dujarric said, “Our comment about freedom of expression in Bangladesh is our comment about freedom of expression anywhere - that it needs to be protected, that journalists have a right to be able to operate their news sites freely and openly, and we want to see positive movement in that direction.”
The Bangladesh government has ordered to block 191 news sites which they alleged of publishing “anti-state propaganda.” The decision of the authoritarian government is increasing concerns about media freedom in this South Asian country.
Information Minister Hasan Mahmud told parliament on Tuesday that the government has instructed the telecoms regulator to block the domains of those news sites following “reports received from intelligence agencies”. He said the sites, which were not named, were “conducting activities that spread confusion among the public.”
MN/
