In his Facebook post, Rahman, 30, questioned the 2013 trial and sentencing of Islamic leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee and the disappearance of a key witness for his defense.

Ali Riaz, a politics and government professor at Illinois State University, said Siddika’s arrest is part of a larger concern in Bangladesh and the diaspora.

Riaz said he believes the problem is only expected to worsen, especially as the country inches closer to an election in January, a vote that has serious implications for the future of Bangladesh’s democracy, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based think tank.

From January 2023 to July, 144 journalists from different media outlets have been tortured, harassed, threatened or sued nationwide, a Bangladesh-based legal aid and human rights organization, Ain o Salish Kendra, found.

“Arresting a mother immediately after her son’s social media post criticizing the government is ludicrous and a new low in Bangladesh, where endless reports of arbitrary detention of opposition politicians and activists in the lead up to next year’s general election has created a climate of fear and distrust,” said Nadia Rahman, interim deputy regional director of research for South Asia at Amnesty International.

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