Hundreds of protesters gathered yesterday in Dhaka to denounce the murder of a prominent US blogger of Bangladeshi origin who was hacked to death with machetes after he allegedly received threats from Muslim militants.
The demonstrators — including teachers, publishers and fellow writers — met near the spot where Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog founder Avijit Roy was attacked by unknown assailants as he returned home from a book fair with his wife on Thursday evening.
They chanted slogans including “We want justice” and “raise your voice against militants.”
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the vicious attack, which also seriously wounded the 44-year-old’s wife and has shocked many in a nation already reeling from weeks of violent political protest.
However the atheist writer’s family said he had received numerous threats from Muslim militants before his death, and yesterday’s rally was expected to draw hundreds of Bangladeshis concerned about the rise in extremism in their nation.
Roy, a US citizen, is the second Bangladeshi atheist blogger to have been murdered in two years and the fourth writer to have been attacked since 2004.
“The attack on Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed is outrageous,” Bangladeshi bloggers’ association head Imran Sarker said. “We strongly protest this attack and are deeply concerned about the safety of writers.”
Hardline Muslim groups have long demanded the public execution of atheist bloggers and sought new laws to combat writing critical of Islam.
Police have launched an investigation and recovered the machetes used in the attack, which they compared to that on atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in 2013.
Haider was hacked to death by members of a little-known Muslim militant group, triggering nationwide protests by tens of thousands of secular activists.
“The pattern of the killing appeared to be the same that of previous attack on a celebrated writer,” Dhaka police assistant commissioner Shiblee Noman told reporters. “It seems it it was carried out by reactionary fundamentalist group.”
Noman also said police were investigating a Twitter posting by the extremist group Ansar Bangla Seven that appeared to celebrate Roy’s murder.
“Target Down here in #Bangladesh,” the group posted from the @AnsarBn7 handle.
Roy’s wife, who is also a blogger, was yesterday moved to a clinic for further treatment.
The writer’s father Ajoy Roy said Avijit had received a number of “threatening” e-mails and messages on social media from hardline Muslims unhappy with his writing. Avijit Roy had written about 10 books, including the best-selling Biswasher Virus (“Virus of Faith”), as well as his blog, which championed liberal secular writing in the Muslim-majority nation.
US-based charity The Center for Inquiry said it was “shocked and heartbroken” by the brutal murder of Roy.
“Dr Roy was a true ally, a courageous and eloquent defender of reason, science, and free expression, in a country where those values have been under heavy attack,” it said in a statement.
Roy’s killing also triggered strong condemnation from his fellow writers and publishers, who lamented the growing religious conservatism and intolerance in Bangladesh.
Pinaki Bhattacharya, a fellow blogger and friend of Roy, said one of the country’s largest online book retailers was being openly threatened for selling Roy’s books.
“In Bangladesh the easiest target is an atheist. An atheist can be attacked and murdered,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
After Haider’s death, Bangladesh’s hardline Muslim groups started to protest against other campaigning bloggers, accusing them of blasphemy and calling a series of nationwide strikes to demand their execution.
The secular government of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reacted by arresting some atheist bloggers.
The government also blocked about a dozen Web sites and blogs to stem the furore over blasphemy, as well as stepping up security for the bloggers.
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