3rd blogger this year hacked to death

onnaedo

May 12, 2015 11:53 AM

Das wrote for Mukto-Mona, a website once moderated by Avijit Roy, who was himself hacked to death in another machete attack in February.

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Ananta Bijoy Das, a blogger with Mukto-Mona has become the 3rd blogger to be murdered this year in Bangaldesh after a machete-wielding gang attacked him in the city of Sylhet.

Das wrote for Mukto-Mona, a website once moderated by Avijit Roy, who was himself hacked to death in another machete attack in February.

Roy, a Bangladeshi-born United States writer, had been returning from a book fair with his wife when he was attacked and subsequently killed. His wife also suffered head injuries in the attack and lost a finger.

Also in March, another blogger, Washiqur Rahman, was hacked to death in Dhaka.

All 3 criticised religious intolerance in their writings and Roy's death prompted massive protests from students and social activists, who accused the authorities of failing to protect critics of religious bigotry.

According to Sara Hossain, a lawyer and human rights activist in Dhaka who spoke with BBC, Das and Roy were on a list of targets owing to their vocal support of free expression and their views of not following any religion.

In her words:

"These last two have been part of a blog called Mukto-Mona (Free Mind), which is about free thinking and is about explicitly taking on religious fundamentalism and particularly Islamic religious fundamentalism. Their names have been on lists of identified targets."

BBC reports that an Islamist has been arrested over Roy's murder, while two madrassa students have been arrested over Rahman's killing.

onnaedo