DHAKA: A popular satirical writer was arrested for posting articles poking fun at the government, an official said Friday, hours after Bangladesh's three-week ban on Facebook for security reasons was lifted.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers detained Refayet Ahmed on Thursday night under the country's controversial Internet law for posting pieces on Facebook, the elite force's spokesman Major Rumman Mahmud said.

“He was arrested for his provocative Facebook posts against the government and the state,” Mahmud told AFP.

The RAB accuses Ahmed of writing under a pseudonym on a page called “Moja Losss?” (Are You Making Fun?). The page had gained popularity for its satirical take on Bangladesh's conservative society, as well as the country's rampant corruption and law and order problems.

But the page, with nearly 700,000 fans, also mocked the government's decision last month to ban Facebook and mobile messaging services like WhatsApp and Viber for security reasons.

The government lifted the Facebook ban on Thursday, although many users had already managed to circumvent the blockade. WhatsApp and Viber remain blocked.

The government fears the apps will be used to mobilise large numbers of opposition protesters, triggering unrest in a country already reeling from deadly attacks by suspected militants.

The bans were originally ordered after two opposition leaders were hanged last month for war crimes committed during the 1971 war.

Ahmed was due to appear in a court in Dhaka on Friday after the police filed an initial case against him for 'abuse of the Internet.'

Under the country's Internet Act, any person who deliberately publishes material deemed to hurt religious beliefs, offend the state or damage law and order can be jailed for up to 14 years.

The law has been used to imprison several high-profile journalists and social media users in the nation in recent months. The UN's rapporteur on freedom of religion in September warned that the law would have a “chilling effect” on society.

The arrest triggered a sharp reaction on social media. “This is not fair... as far I know they (the posts) are not anti-government... But they are strongly anti-corruption,” one 'Moja Losss?' fan commented on Facebook.