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Blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh Blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh
(about 3 hours later)
A blogger has been hacked to death in the capital of Bangladesh, in the latest brutal attack on the country’s independent writers, a senior officer said. A blogger known for his atheist views has been stabbed to death in Bangladesh, in the latest of a series of attacks on independent writers in the emerging south Asian nation.
Police have arrested two men over the murder, which comes weeks after an American atheist blogger was also killed in Dhaka, in a crime that triggered international outrage. Washiqur Rahman, 27, died of serious injuries inflicted in the assault on Monday morning in Dhaka, the capital.
Speaking about Monday’s victim, local police chief Wahidul Islam told Agence France-Presse: “He was brutally hacked to death this morning with big knives just 500 yards [460 metres] from his home at Dhaka’s Begunbari area.” Police have arrested two men, reported to be religious students, for the murder, which comes just weeks after an American atheist blogger was also killed in Dhaka, in a crime that triggered international outrage.
Islam said the men were arrested immediately after the attack as they tried to flee the scene. Related: Bangladesh authorities arrest man over atheist blogger's murder
Police said they were unsure whether the victim, Washiqur Rahman, 27, was also an atheist blogger but another social media writer said that he was known to write “against religious fundamentalism”. Local police chief Wahidul Islam told Agence France-Presse the victim had been “brutally hacked to death this morning with big knives just 500 yards [460 metres] from his home at Dhaka’s Begunbari area.”
Islam said the two detained men were arrested immediately after the attack as they tried to flee the scene.
Police said they were unsure whether the victim wasan atheist blogger but another social media activist said that he used to write “against religious fundamentalism”.
“It appeared Rahman used to write using a pen name, Kutshit Hasher Chhana [Ugly Duckling],” Imran Sarker, head of the Blogger and Online Activists Network in Bangladesh, said. “He was a progressive free thinker and was against religious fundamentalism.”“It appeared Rahman used to write using a pen name, Kutshit Hasher Chhana [Ugly Duckling],” Imran Sarker, head of the Blogger and Online Activists Network in Bangladesh, said. “He was a progressive free thinker and was against religious fundamentalism.”
The Dhaka Tribune said the dead man was a member of eight Facebook group pages including Atheist Bangladesh. Local media have said the suspected attackers were students at religious schools known as medressas.
Rahman is the third such blogger to have been murdered in the Muslim-majority country in the past two years.
Police have also arrested a suspect over the killing in February of American atheist writer and blogger Avijit Roy.Police have also arrested a suspect over the killing in February of American atheist writer and blogger Avijit Roy.
Roy was the second atheist blogger to have been murdered in the Muslim-majority country in the last two years and the fourth writer to have been attacked since 2004. Roy, an engineer of Bangladeshi origin, was killed by machete-wielding assailants near Dhaka University as he and his wife were returning from a book fair last month. His wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, suffered head injuries and lost a finger. She later returned to the US for treatment.
His death sparked uproar at home and abroad with hundreds of secular activists protesting for days to demand justice. Related: Atheist blogger Avijit Roy 'was not just a person … he was a movement'
They also criticised the country’s secular government for not doing enough to protect humanist writers. “While Avijit and I were being ruthlessly attacked, the local police stood close by and did not act,” Rafida told Reuters.
Roy’s death sparked uproar at home and abroad, with hundreds of secular activists protesting for days to demand justice. They also criticised the country’s government for not doing enough to protect humanist writers.
An adviser to Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, appeared in comments earlier this month to pass the blame for the murder of Roy on to the police.
“Identify the black sheep among the force and bring them under law and justice to uphold your image,” HT Imam told senior officers.
Related: Bangladesh seeking police 'black sheep' on duty when US blogger was killed
A suspect in the killing, named as Farabi Shafiur Rahman, had previously threatened Roy several times, including on Facebook, where he said Roy would be killed upon his arrival in Dhaka. Rahman was arrested in 2013 for making threats to a cleric for administering Islamic funeral rites to another atheist blogger, Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was murdered.
Media group Reporters Without Borders rated Bangladesh 146th among 180 countries in a ranking of press freedom last year.
In 2004, assailants attacked Bangladeshi writer Humayun Azad, also with machetes. Azad survived the attack, but died in mysterious circumstances later that year in Germany, where he had gone on an academic visit.
Political violence in recent months has claimed the lives of more than 100 people and left hundreds more injured. Clashes have pitted activists from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP), which boycotted general elections a year ago, and other parties against security forces. The latest protests have been called by Khaleda Zia, leader of the BNP, who wants Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, to resign and call fresh polls. Hasina has said her government would remain in office until her term ends in 2019. Allies of the BNP include Islamist parties.
The country of more than 160 million people has struggled to resolve profound disagreements over the role of religion in politics and society in recent years.