Heads of missions of the European Union (EU) Member States, the European Union Delegation and the heads of missions of Norway and Switzerland on Thursday reiterated their concerns around several provisions of the Digital Security Act.

In a joint statement on the recently passed ‘Digital Security Act, 2018’, they said the law unduly restricts the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media and undermine judicial procedural guarantees, reports the UNB.

The diplomats said the law, in its current form, could be used to suppress and criminalise the legitimate exercise of these freedoms.

‘We call upon the government of Bangladesh to continue consultations on this law and pursue the commitments taken during the Universal Periodic Review last May, so as to ensure that the Digital Security Act will be in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as the Constitution of Bangladesh,’ reads the statement.

EU Ambassador Rensje Teerink, Italian Ambassador Mario Palma, Spanish Ambassador D. Alvaro de Salas Gimenez de Azcarate, Swedish Ambassador Charlotta Schlyter, France Ambassador Marie-Annick Bourdin, German Ambassador Peter Fahrenholtz, Dutch Ambassador-designate Harry Verweij, Danish Ambassador-designate Winnie Estrup Petersen, acting British High Commissioner  Kanbar Hossein-Bor, Norwegian Ambassador Sidsel Bleken and Swiss Ambassador Rene Holenstein are among the signatories to the local statement.