12 blogs, Facebook pages blocked by the Government

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has closed 12 blogs and Facebook pages including ‘Sonar Bangla’ and ‘Basher Kella’ reportedly run by people tied to Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing over last few days. BDnews24 Reports.

The closure by the BTRC’s Computer Security Incident Response Team has come as those blogs and pages have been accused of spreading hatred and hurting religious sentiment of the people.

“The blogs and pages of the social networking website have been shut down in line with law, not considering any political line,” BTRC Vice Chairman Giasuddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com. Ahmed is also the Convenor of the security response team, which is assigned to ensure cyber security.

The official said his team acts against any distasteful write-ups and photos or any other online postings that could undermine the state, society, any political group or religion.
The first closure came on Saturday when the BTRC shut down the ‘Sonar Bangla’ blog, known to have been operated by pro-Jamaat-e-Islami activists, following demand from the demonstrators at Shahbagh after co-protester and blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider were murdered on Friday.

Blogger and online activist Ahmed Rajib Haider was found dead near his Palashnagar residence in the capital’s Mirpur last Friday night.

His family and friends blamed it on the activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir as he had been blogging against their activities which made him a possible ‘target’. He was a self-proclaimed atheist and he used his pen to unveil the pseudo character of the fundamentalist party, which formally opposed the creation of Bangladesh.

Online activists and protesters said that Rajib had received threats on his life through various online posts. One such threat was posted in "Sonar Bangla". His friends say they are convinced that the Jamaat and Shibir are behind the killing.

The BTRC formed the security response team on Jan 25 last year and launched a special drive to thwart cyber crimes to ensure national security.

The team started receiving complaints and suggestions through email: contact@csirt.gov.bd to thwart cyber crime from Apr 22 the same year.

The team would investigate immediately after receiving any complaint and take punitive action measuring the importance of the incident.

The government on May 29, 2010 temporarily blocked access to facebook following the arrest of a youth for uploading satiric images of some leading politicians including the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition. The popular social networking website was opened later.