Jamaat Claims Official Pages Attacked Using Government Email Accounts

At a press briefing held on the morning of 1 February at the Jamaat-e-Islami political office in Moghbazar, Dhaka, party officials alleged a planned cyberattack on the social media accounts of the party and its Amir, which included a controversial post targeting women. The briefing was attended by Assistant Secretary General Advocate Ehsanul Mahbub Zubayer, Election Management Committee Secretary Maulana Abdul Halim, journalist Oliullah Noman, and former Central President of Islami Chhatra Shibir Engineer Sirajul Islam, among others.

According to Engineer Mahmudur Rahman, a member of the party’s election cybersecurity team, the viral screenshot circulating online was captured at 4:37 PM on 31 January, just one minute after the offending post was published. The screenshot was widely shared five to seven hours later, despite the party having changed the account password and issued an official statement within half an hour of the incident.

Mahmudur Rahman provided screenshots of various cyberattacks, alleging that the party’s official pages were being targeted using government email accounts. He claimed deliberate misinformation and disinformation campaigns were being spread. In one instance, a fact-check confirmed the death of a BNP leader over a land dispute, but the same image was used elsewhere without any news link, spreading false narratives. According to him, these campaigns aim to distract the party’s debunking efforts, while also instilling fear among women voters using topics such as burqa and niqab.

He also detailed a series of attacks over the past month, including a phishing email sent on 10 January via a government email account disguised as a “Case Study Election” access file, targeting election-related documents. Attempts were also made on the Amir’s account from an untrusted device, which were blocked, and on 12 January, attacks were reported on the account of Delowa Hossain in Dhaka South City Corporation, including virus-laden emails sent through a phishing campaign.

The press briefing revealed that at 4:37 PM on 31 January, an offensive post was published from the Amir’s Twitter account that conflicted with the party’s beliefs and prior statements. Two hours earlier, the Amir had tweeted about women’s higher education, highlighting the disparity caused by the hack. Following detection, the party changed the account password at 5:09 PM, attempted mail recovery, and issued an official statement on Facebook at 5:22 PM. Another post was also published at 4:53 PM through the Facebook account of Dhaka South City Secretary Shafiqul Islam Masud, which had been hacked. A general diary (GD) was filed at 3:30 AM the following day.

Assistant Secretary General Advocate Ehsanul Mahbub Zubayer described the incident as a well-orchestrated hack with political motives, warning of legal action against those responsible. He emphasized that the plot aims to defame Jamaat-e-Islami and that the Election Commission (EC) will be informed.

Jamaat Election Committee member Sirajul Islam added, “We will continue to combat any subversive activities. A particular group is intentionally carrying out this malicious campaign, but such acts will not gain public trust.”

DBTech/FBL/IK/OR