The organization said on Wednesday in a statement that the new press bill to be presented in Parliament “retains a vagueness that will leave the print media open to abuse from the government and other powerful actors.”

It said that the draft Press Law Bill (2013) says that the draft bill, if passed, would undermine the role of journalists and overly restrict their work.

However, Article 19 acknowledged that the proposed media bill has both positive and negative aspects. “On the positive side, it repeals draconian laws and replaces them with provisions that proclaim human rights. On the negative side it falls substantially below international freedom of expression standards,” it said.