A government handout said that the issue carried "objectionable news and phtographs on the holy religion of Islam."
The government also confiscated all issues of Newsweek that landed in Bangladesh for distribution.
"Its import, sale and distribution have also been banned in Bangladesh as such write-up and photographs may create adverse repercussion by hurting the religious sentiment of the Muslim community, " the handout said.
An article in the magazine in a series on Muslim women titled "Women of Allah" depicted pictures by Iran-born woman Shirin Neshat. Some of the photographs depicted a veiled woman with her bare hands and soles covered in Persian calligraphy. This, it is believed, may have been interpreted as Koranic verses in Bangladesh.
Newsweek distributes more than 1,300 copies of the magazine in the country.
Bangladesh, which has a 90 percent Muslim population, scrutinizes all international magazines that are legally imported. Earlier, it had banned Indian magazines Desh and Sananda.
