Bangladesh Arrests Teenage Child for Criticizing Prime Minister

Bangladesh authorities on Saturday arrested a 15-year-old for “defaming” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed in a Facebook post. It was an especially egregious move in a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting critics of the ruling party with the harsh and vaguely worded Digital Security Act (DSA).

Police in Bhaluka, north of Dhaka, told the media that they arrested the child after a local ruling party politician said the boy had “badmouthed … our mother-like leader.” The child was sent to a juvenile detention center where, police said, he would spend time “realizing his mistakes and correcting his character.”