The hacking and shooting to death of a student activist in Bangladesh has renewed international concern that advocates of secularism and free speech are unsafe in the mostly Muslim nation.
Amnesty International called the deadly attack on Wednesday night on 28-year-old Nazimuddin Samad a “grave reminder that the authorities are failing to protect people exercising their right to freedom of expression”.
The United States State Department spokesman Mark Toner strongly condemned Samad’s “barbaric murder” and told reporters the US was considering granting refuge to a select number of secular bloggers who face imminent danger in the poor, South Asian nation.
Here is a list of attacks on secular writers, publishers and members of Bangladesh’s minority Shiite and Christian communities:
– February 15, 2013: Assailants wielding machetes kill secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider after he posts comments online about religious fundamentalism. In December 2015, police arrest eight people they suspect of having links with the banned group Ansarullah Bangla Team
– February 27, 2015: At least two assailants attack Bangladeshi-American blogger and writer Avijit Roy with meat cleavers, killing him and injuring his wife on a crowded street in Dhaka, the capital. A previously unknown group, Ansar Bangla 7, which intelligence officials believe is part of Ansarullah Bangla Team, claims responsibility. At least four suspects are arrested.
– March 30, 2015: Three men use meat cleavers to hack 26-year-old blogger Washiqur Rahman Babu to death in Dhaka. Bystanders chase down two of the attackers, but a third escapes. The captured suspects say they are students at Islamic schools and were ordered to commit the crime. Police have been unable to determine who gave the order.
