No freedom to poke fun?

On December 10, the government opened Facebook again possibly in view of proxy servers circumventing the ban and widespread public dissent. Whatsapp and Viber stayed closed until December 15. Hours after the unblocking of Facebook, Refayet Ahmed, the 28-year-old admin of Moja Losss?, was arrested by RAB.

It would be tempting to see the unblocking of Facebook as a victory. But was it? The government kept social media off for 22 days. There was never any admission that the block was not a very logical move. Terrorist attacks did not stop even after the block; the rationale changed every day, until finally it was about preventing sexual harassment.

According to a report by The Daily Star, the Deputy Director of Rab's Legal and Media wing said that Refayet was arrested for "posts against the government and state." This is an odd accusation to make against Moja Losss?, which is mostly known for parodies and lampooning popular culture, like Ilias Kanchan's videos remixed to top 40 international pop songs of the year.

Moja Losss? is unbiased and opposed to all political parties, which reflects the reality of most young people under 30. One of their recent posts is a mashup between Adele's song "Hello" and BNP leader Khaleda Zia's scolding of a police officer ("Is your home district Gopalganj?"). The BNP leader does not come across well in this parody. There are also a few critical posts about the absurdity of the Facebook block, a view shared by many.

Moja Losss? is a funny, slightly rude, humour page on Facebook. The 'admins' of the page have the anarchic energy of Unmad, Cartoon, and Rosh+Alo in their heydays, along with Photoshop and video editing skills and an obsession with cheesy Bangla films ("Chowdhury Shaheb!"). Moja Losss? has 6.91 lakh followers at the last count, and it is this number that may be the problem. Since the "No VAT on Education" movement, certain quarters are worried about social media as a vehicle for mass protests, although it is doubtful that Moja Losss? would be the vehicle for politicisation.

The timing of the arrest makes the message clear. You can have Facebook, but don't post any criticism of the government. It's high time we got legal clarification on this issue. Is it illegal to make comments criticising the government? If so, should newspapers stop publishing editorials and op-eds? If criticism of the government is now illegal, are the punishments different for online versus other media (newspapers, books, public events)? If they are different, why are they different? What is the logic?

There is currently a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) pending in the High Court, which challenges the 2010 block of Facebook. Writ Petition No. 4719 of 2010, in the matter of Section 46 and 57 of the ICT Act 2006, challenges the law that allows blocking of sites and also the law that states that online speech which 'hurts the image of the nation' may be punished by 14 years of jail (plaintiffs represented by Barrister Sara Hossain and others). There is also a second case challenging section 57 only, filed by Prof. Anu Mohammad, Prof. Ahmed Kamal and others. The hearings are currently ongoing, and we are waiting for the court to give a judgment.

Until the hearings produce a verdict, punitive arrests can prejudice proceedings. Refayet Ahmed is currently on bail but that's not enough. We urge the government and police to drop the charges against him. We want our daily dose of humour back.

The writer is an entrepreneur and social media enthusiast.