The government of Bangladesh has allowed the
availability of Facebook within the country’s territory after a 22 days ban.
Facebook’s operations resumed on Thursday, December 10. The authorities,
however, say other social networks like Viber and WhatsApp remain blocked until
after further consideration citing security reasons. Bangladesh’s
Minister for Post and Telecommunication Tarana Halim made the announcement at the
Secretariat on Thursday afternoon.
The
government had ordered Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber to be made unavailable on
November 18, so as to ensure public safety, days before the hanging of two
opposition leaders, Salahuddin Chowdhury and Ali Mujahid after they lost their
appeals against the death penalty for war crimes committed during the 1971 independence
conflict.
Sarwar
Alam, secretary of the BTRC is said to have stated that they issued the order banning
the operations of social media networks following a directive of the
government. It is believed that the fear of opposition causing unrest in Bangladesh
which is already dealing with the impact of Islamists insurgency, murder of
foreigners and killing of atheist bloggers led to the ban.
The
country had earlier placed a temporarily bar on the sending of messages through
Tango and Viber at the beginning of 2015 when it was noticed that they had
become an effective means of mobilizing large numbers of activists for
anti-government protests.
In
making his speech unbanning Facebook, the minister thanked internet users for being
patient during the ban while informing the public that directives had been
given to the telecom service providers to unblock Facebook immediately. Days
earlier hundreds of youths had protested on the streets terming the ban a
suppression of freedom of expression.
Bangladesh
had experienced a deadly reaction following similar convictions in 2013 which
resulted in the death of about 500 people in clashes between opposition
activists and police.
The
country had similarly in 2009 blocked Facebook after a revolt by the paramilitary
forces left 57 army officers dead.
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