Bangladesh: Parliament passes new anti-terrorism bill

On 13 February, the Parliament of Bangladesh passed a bill, which allows intelligence and law enforcement agencies to tap telephone conversations of any individual, despite concerns about its impact on the right to privacy and possible abuse of the law by the authorities. The Government is also planning to introduce a comprehensive anti-terrorism law, which would widen the scope of terrorist offenses, introduce special tribunals to try such offenses and increase the maximum punishment for offenses.