Anti-Islamism activist hacked to death in Bangladesh

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi law student who posted against Islamism on his Facebook page has been murdered, police said, the latest in a series of killings of secular activists and bloggers in the country.

Nazimuddin Samad, a 26-year-old atheist who had taken part in protests against Islamist leaders, was attacked late on Wednesday near his university in Dhaka by unknown assailants carrying machetes.

“At least four assailants hacked Samad’s head with a machete on Wednesday night.

“As he fell down, one of them shot him with a pistol from close range. He died on the spot,” deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Syed Nurul Islam said yesterday.

“It is a case of targeted killing but no group has claimed responsibility,” Islam said, adding that police were investigating whether Samad was murdered for his writing.

The Dhaka Tribune said the assailants shouted “Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest)” as they attacked Samad on a busy road near Dhaka’s Jagannath University, where he was a law student.

Imran Sarker, who leads Bangladesh’s largest online secular activist group, said Samad had joined nationwide protests in 2013 against top Islamist leaders who were accused of committing war crimes during the country’s war of independence.

“He was a secular online activist and a loud voice against any social injustice.

“He was against Islamic fundamentalism,” said Sarker, head of the Bangladesh Bloggers Association.

At least four atheist bloggers and a secular publisher were hacked to death last year.

Police have arrested members of a banned group called the Ansarullah Bangla Team over those murders, although no one has been prosecuted yet.

Secular groups have called nationwide protests and rallies to demand more protection for publishers, bloggers and writers, some of whom have fled the country or gone into hiding.