Siddika was charged under the Special Powers Act of 1974 after police said they were patrolling the area based on “secret information” and learned that political leaders and activists were at the home.

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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