US blogger killed in Bangladesh
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the vicious attack on Roy and his wife, who is also a writer
No one claims responsibility for the vicious attack on Roy and his wife, who is also a writer
Hundreds of protesters rallied in Dhaka yesterday to denounce the murder of a prominent American blogger of Bangladeshi origin hacked to death with machetes after he allegedly received threats from Islamists.
The demonstrators — including teachers, publishers and fellow writers — met near the spot where Avijit Roy, founder of Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog, was attacked by unknown assailants as he returned home from a book fair with his wife on Thursday evening.
As they chanted slogans including “we want justice” and “raise your voice against militants”, the head of the Bangladesh bloggers’ association said the protests would continue until those responsible were apprehended.
“Avijit’s killing once again proved that there is a culture of impunity in the country,” Imran Sarker said at the rally.
“The government must arrest the killers in 24 hours or face non-stop protests.”
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 country already reeling from weeks of violent political protest. 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.
His father Ajay Roy said he had warned his son he could face problems in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, where secular activists have expressed concern about the rise of Islamism.
“I told Avijit that the Bangladeshi situation would not be comfortable for him. But he came to Bangladesh to see his mother and because two of his books were published at the book fair,” said the elder Roy.
Received threats
Ajay Roy said his son had received numerous threats from Islamists before he arrived in Bangladesh on February 16.
Hardline Islamist 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 a fatal assault on atheist blogger Ahmad Rajib Haider in 2013.
Haider was hacked to death by members of a little-known Islamist militant group, triggering nationwide protests.
“The pattern of the killing appeared to be the same as that of previous attack on a celebrated writer,” assistant commissioner of Dhaka police Shiblee Noman said. “It seems it was carried out by a reactionary fundamentalist group.”