ONE of Bangladesh’s key newspapers critical of the government said today its website was blocked, amid a general election boycotted by the opposition.

Sajid Hoque, news editor at the Daily Manab Zamin, said the paper had been “flooded with calls and messages” from readers “that they cannot access our website”.

The newspaper’s printed edition was still available on the streets.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is guaranteed to win a fifth term after a boycott led by an opposition party she has branded a “terrorist organisation”.

Hasina has presided over breakneck economic growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, but her government has been accused of rampant human rights abuses and a ruthless opposition crackdown.

The paper, one of the most popular in the South Asian nation and known for its critical coverage of political affairs, posted on its Facebook page yesterday that the blocking was not due to technical issues on its site.

“Manab Zamin’s website is not accessible from across the country,” it said.

AFP could not access the website in Dhaka, and Bangladesh internet monitor Activate Rights reported the site had been offline since yesterday.

International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, which ranked Bangladesh 163rd out of 180 countries in its world press freedom index, warned ahead of the vote of what it dubbed the government’s “harmful grip on information”. – AFP, January 7, 2024.