The Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2026 was passed by the parliament this noon without changing the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 issued by the interim government.
The interim government promulgated the ordinance on May 11, 2025, a day before the government officially imposed a ban on Awami League’s activities in line with that ordinance.
The ordinance included provisions to ban individuals or entities involved in terrorist activities and their operations.
To give this ordinance the force of law, the bill was placed in the House by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed.
Opposition Leader Shafiqur Rahman objected, saying, “We received a comparative sheet only 3-4 minutes ago. We could not read it fully. This law is certainly a sensitive one. We should be given more time to review it.”
In response, Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad said, “There is a specific time for raising objections. If objections were raised within that time, we could have considered them. At this stage of the bill, there is no scope for objections.”
The opposition leader replied, “Unfortunately, we just received the sheet.” The Speaker then said, “Perhaps we can look into this later, but at this stage of the bill, objections are not possible.”
Later, Salahuddin Ahmed proposed the passage of the bill. “This bill concerns the banning of a genocidal, terrorist organisation. It is an amendment to the previous Anti-Terrorism Act. The opposition leader will surely recall that they and their NCP friends together launched a movement. That movement created public opinion in Bangladesh. Based on that, their (AL's) activities were banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act.”
The bill was then passed by voice vote.
The 2009 act allows the banning of an entity, but does not contain any provision regarding the prohibition of an entity’s activities. After the latest amendment through the ordinance and now the bill, Section 18(1) now authorises the government to “ban all activities of any entity.”
Section 20 reads, “(The government) will ban publishing or printing any press statement by or on behalf of that entity, or organising any sort of publicity on mass media, online, social media or other media, processions, rallies, gatherings or press conferences, or giving a public speech.”
The government on May 12, 2025 issued a notification banning all activities of Awami League and its associated and affiliated organisations, on allegations of killings, genocide, crimes against humanity, and other grave offences during the July uprising.
Hours later, the Election Commission also suspended the party’s registration.