Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh

Since 2013, a number of secularist writers, bloggers and publishers in Bangladesh have been killed or seriously injured in attacks perpetrated by Islamist extremists. The attacks have taken place at a time of growing tension between Bangladeshi secularists, who want the country to maintain its secularist tradition of separation of religion and state, and Islamists, who want an Islamic state. Tensions have also risen as a result of the country's war crimes tribunal, which has recently convicted several members of the opposition Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party for crimes committed during Bangladesh's bloody war of independence in 1971. Secularists have been calling for harsher penalties for the convicted, with some calling for the Jamaat-e-Islam party itself to be outlawed, drawing the ire of the party's supporters. Responsibility for the attacks on secularists which have since occurred have been claimed by a number of militant groups including Ansarullah Bangla Team, who have frequently justified their attacks on the grounds that their victims are "atheists" and enemies of Islam. Four bloggers had been killed in 2015, but only 4 people were arrested in the murder cases.[1][2]

The Bangladeshi government, meanwhile, though itself secular and liberal, has been criticized for its responses to the attacks, which have included charging and jailing some of the secularist bloggers for allegedly defaming religious groups—a strategy seen as pandering to hardline elements within Bangladesh's Muslim majority.

Background

In 2010, the government of Bangladesh, headed by the secularist Awami League, established a war crimes tribunal to investigate war crimes perpetrated during Bangladesh's bloody 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan. In February 2013, Abdul Quader Molla, a leader of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party (a small Islamist party within the opposition coalition) was sentenced to life imprisonment by the tribunal. The sentence was condemned by Bangladesh's secularist bloggers and writers, who helped organize the 2013 Shahbag protests in response, calling for the death penalty for Molla. The protestors quickly expanded their demands to include outlawing the Jamaat-e-Islami party itself for its role in the 1971 war.[3]

Government and international response

While police have arrested a number of suspects in the killings, and some bloggers have received police protection, the Bangladesh government has also responded by arresting and jailing a number of secularist bloggers for "defaming Islam" as well as shutting down several websites.[4] According to Sarker, "[t]he government has taken this easy route to appease a handful of mullahs whose support they need to win the upcoming election."[5]

A number of NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders, and the Committee to Protect Journalists have condemned the imprisonment of bloggers as an attack on free speech, which they say is contributing to a climate of fear for Bangladeshi journalists.[6][7][8][9]

In a petition published in The Guardian on 22 May 2015, 150 authors, including Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Yann Martell, called on the government of Bangladesh to put an end to the deadly attacks on bloggers, urging the Prime Minister and government "to do all in their power to ensure that the tragic events of the last three months are not repeated, and to bring the perpetrators to justice."[10]

Victims

Asif Mohiuddin

On 15 January 2013, Asif Mohiuddin, a self-described "militant atheist" blogger,[11] was stabbed near his office in Dhaka. He survived the attack.[11] Mohiuddin, a winner of the BOBs award for online activism, was on an Islamist hit list that also included the sociology professor Shafiul Islam.[12] The Islamist fundamentalist group Ansarullah Bangla Team claimed responsibility for the attack. According to Mohiuddin, he later met his attackers in jail, and they told him, "You left Islam, you are not a Muslim, you criticized the Koran, we had to do this."[13] Reporters Without Borders stated that Mohiuddin and others have "clearly" been targeted for their "opposition to religious extremism."[12]

Ahmed Rajib Haider

On the night of 15 February 2013, Ahmed Rajib Haider, an atheist blogger, was attacked while leaving his house in the Mirpur area of Dhaka. His body was found lying in a pool of blood,[14] mutilated to the point that his friends could not recognise him.[15] The following day, his coffin was carried through Shahbagh Square in a public protest attended by more than 100,000 people.[16]

Haider was an organizer of the Shahbag movement,[14] a group "which seeks death for war criminals and a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami and its student front Islami Chhatra Shibir."[17] According to Haider's family, Haider was murdered "for the blogs he used to write to bring 'war criminals' to justice"[17] and for his outspoken criticism of the Jamaat-e-Islami party.[16] The Shahbag movement described Haider as their "first martyr".[17]

Sunnyur Rahaman

On the night of 7 March 2013, Sunnyur Rahaman was injured when two men swooped on him and hacked him with machetes. He came under attack around 9:00 pm near Purabi Cinema Hall in Mirpur. With the assistance of local police he was rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital with wounds in his head, neck, right leg and left hand.[18] Rahaman was a Shahbag movement activist and a critic of various religious parties including Jamaat-e-Islami.[19]

Avijit Roy

On 26 February 2015, bio-engineer Dr. Avijit Roy, a well-known Bangladeshi blogger, and his wife Bonya Ahmed were attacked in Dhaka by machete-wielding assailants.[4][20] Roy and his wife had been returning home from the Ekushey Book Fair by bicycle rickshaw[4] when around 8:30 pm they were attacked near the Teacher Student Center intersection of Dhaka University by unidentified assailants. According to witnesses, two assailants stopped and dragged them from the rickshaw to the pavement before striking them with machetes.[4] Roy was struck and stabbed in the head with sharp weapons. His wife was slashed on her shoulders and the fingers of her left hand severed when she attempted to go to her husband's aid.[21] Both were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where Roy died at 10:30 pm. His wife survived the attack.[22]

Roy was a naturalized U.S. citizen and founder of the influential Bangladeshi blog Mukto-Mona ("Freethinkers"). A champion of liberal secularism and humanism, Roy was an outspoken atheist and opponent of religious extremism. He was the author of ten books, the best known of which was a critique of religious extremism, Virus of Faith.[4] A group calling itself Ansar Bangla 7 claimed responsibility for the attack, describing Roy's writings as a "crime against Islam".[22] They also stated that he was targeted as a U.S. citizen in retaliation for U.S. bombing of ISIS militants in Syria.[22]

Roy's killing sparked protests in Dhaka, and expressions of concern internationally.[4] UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice, and for the government to defend freedom of expression and public debate.[23] Author Tahmima Anam wrote in The New York Times "Blogging has become a dangerous profession in Bangladesh" stating that writers have rallied at Dhaka University to criticise the authorities for "not doing enough to safeguard freedom of expression."[24] Anam wrote

[Avijit Roy] and Mr. Rahman were the victims of murderous thugs, but they were also the victims of a poisonous political climate, in which secularists and Islamists, observant Muslims and atheists, Jamaat-e-Islami and the Awami League are pitted against one another. They battle for votes, for power, for the ideological upper hand. There seems to be no common ground.

Mahfuz Anam, editor of The Daily Star wrote that the death "is a spine-chilling warning to us all that we all can be targets. All that needs to happen for any of us to be killed is that some fanatic somewhere in the country, decides that someone or anyone, needs to be killed." Anam stated

We believe that diversity, tolerance and freedom of conscience – fundamental to our existence – are being challenged here... What is being destroyed is an integral part of the values of our freedom struggle and the democratic struggle that we have waged so far.[25]

Oyasiqur Rhaman

On 30 March 2015, another blogger, Oyasiqur Rhaman, was killed in Dhaka in a similar attack to that perpetrated on Avijit Roy. The police arrested two suspects near the scene and recovered meat cleavers from them. The suspects said they killed Rhaman due to his anti-Islamic articles. Rhaman was reportedly known for criticizing "irrational religious beliefs".[26] The suspects informed the police that they are also members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team and had trained for fifteen days before killing the blogger.[27]

Imran Sarker told reporters that unlike Roy, Oyasiqur Rhaman was not a high-profile blogger, but "was targeted because open-minded and progressive bloggers are being targeted in general. They are killing those who are easy to access, when they get the opportunity... The main attempt is to create fear among bloggers."[28] According to Sarker, Rhaman's murder was part of a "struggle between those who are promoting political Islam to turn Bangladesh into a fundamentalist, religious state and the secular political forces ... That is why [the bloggers] have become the main target, and the political parties who are supposed to prevent such attacks and provide security to them seem unable to do so. The main problem is that even mainstream political parties prefer to compromise with these radical groups to remain in power".[28]

The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a press release stating that Rhaman's death occurred in a climate of "official harassment of journalists in Bangladesh".[29]

Ananta Bijoy Das

Ananta Bijoy Das, an atheist blogger[30] who was on an extremist hit-list for his writing, was hacked to death by four masked men in Sylhet on 12 May 2015.[30] Ananta wrote blogs for Mukto-Mona. He had authored three books on science, evolution, and revolution in the Soviet Union, and headed the Sylhet-based science and rationalist council.[31][32] He was also an editor of a quarterly magazine called Jukti (Logic).[32]

Ananta Das was invited by Swedish PEN to discuss the persecution of writers in Bangladesh, but the Swedish government refused him a visa on the basis that he might not return to Bangladesh after his visit.[33]

Lawyer Sara Hossain said of Roy and Das, "They've always believed and written very vocally in support of free expression and they've very explicitly written about not following any religion themselves."[34] Asia director of Human Rights Watch Brad Adams said on Ananta's killing, “This pattern of vicious attacks on secular and atheist writers not only silences the victims but also sends a chilling message to all in Bangladesh who espouse independent views on religious issues.”[35]

An editorial in The Guardian stated "Like Raif Badawi, imprisoned and flogged in Saudi Arabia, the brave men who have been murdered are guilty of nothing more than honesty and integrity. Those are virtues that fundamentalists and fanatics cannot stand."[33] It concludes "Violent jihadis have circulated a list with more than 80 names of free thinkers whom they wish to kill. The public murder of awkward intellectuals is one definition of barbarism. Governments of the west, and that of Bangladesh, must do much more to defend freedom and to protect lives."[33]

Niloy Neel

Niladri Chattopadhyay Niloy,[36] also known as Niloy Chatterjee[37] and by his pen name Niloy Neel, was killed on 7 August 2015. It is reported that, a gang of about six men armed with machetes attacked him at his home in the Goran area of Dhaka and hacked to death.[38] Police said that the men had tricked his wife[36] into allowing them into his home before killing him. Neel had previously reported to the police that he feared for his life, but no action had been taken.[39] He was an organiser of the Science and Rationalist Association Bangladesh, and had gained a master's degree in Philosophy from Dhaka University in 2013.[40] Niloy had written in Mukto-Mona, a blogging platform for secularists and freethinkers,[38] was associated with the Shahbag Movement,[41] and also attended the public protest demanding justice for the murdered bloggers, Ananta Bijoy Das and Avijit Roy.[42][43] Ansarullah Al Islam Bangladesh, an Al Qaeda group,[38] claimed responsibility for the killing of the blogger.[44]

The UN urged a quick and fair investigation of the murder, saying, “It is vital to ensure the identification of those responsible for this and the previous horrendous crimes, as well as those who may have masterminded the attacks.”[45] Amnesty International condemned the killing and said that it was the “urgent duty (of the government) to make clear that no more attacks like this will be tolerated”.[46] Other entities which condemned the killing, include the German Government,[47] Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina,[48] Human Rights Watch,[49] Communist Party of Bangladesh, Gonojagoron Moncho and other rightist and leftist political parties of Bangladesh.[50]

Writer Taslima Nasrin criticized the prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Government saying, "Sheikh Hasina’s government is morally culpable. I am squarely blaming the state for these massacres in installment. Its indifference and so-called inability to rein in the murderous Ansarullah brigade is solely predicated on the fear of being labelled atheists."[51]

Faisal Arefin Dipan

Faisal Arefin Dipan, aged 43, the publisher of Jagriti Prakashani,[52] which published Avijit Roy's Biswasher Virus (Bengali for The Virus of Faith),[53] was hacked to death in Dhaka on 31 October 2015. Reports stated that he had been killed in his third-floor office at the Jagriti Prokashoni publishing house. The attack followed another stabbing, earlier the same day, when publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul and two writers, Ranadeep Basu and Tareque Rahim, were stabbed in their office at another publishing house. The three men were taken to hospital, and at least one was reported to be in a critical condition.[54]

Earlier attacks

Taslima Nasrin

In the 1990s, author Taslima Nasrin achieved notoriety in Bangladesh for "her bold use of sexual imagery in her poetry, her self-declared atheism, and her iconoclastic lifestyle".[55] In her newspaper columns and books, she criticized rising religious fundamentalism and government inaction. In early 1992, mobs began attacking book stores stocking her work. The same year she was assaulted at a book fair and her passport was confiscated. In July 1993, her novel Lajja was banned by the government for allegedly creating "misunderstanding among communities".[56] On 23 September 1993, a fatwa was issued for her death. After international pressure, her passport was returned in April 1994, after which she traveled to France and returned via India. On 4 July 1994, an arrest warrant was issued for her under an old statute dating to the British colonial period outlawing writings "intended to outrage ... religious believers" and she went underground.[55] After being granted bail on 3 August, Nasrin fled to Sweden, remaining in exile for some years. In 1998, she visited her critically ill mother in Bangladesh, but was forced to go into hiding once again after threats and demonstrations. In 2005, she moved to India and applied for citizenship.[55]

Shamsur Rahman

On 18 January 1999, Shamsur Rahman, one of the leading Bangladeshi poets, was targeted and a failed attempt was made to kill him at his residence by Harakat-Ul-Jihad-Ul-Islami for his writings.[57]

Humayun Azad

In 2003, Bangladeshi secular author and critic Humayun Azad wrote a book named Pak Sar Jamin Saad Baad criticising the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party. Azad received numerous death threats from fundamentalists groups after its publication.[58] On 27 February 2004, he became the victim of a vicious assassination attempt by assailants armed with machetes near the campus of the University of Dhaka during the annual Bangla Academy book fair. A week prior to Dr Azad's assault, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, one of the renowned religious leaders of Bangladesh, demanded in the parliament that Azad's political satire Pak Sar Jamin Saad Baad be banned and called for the application of the Blasphemy Act to the author.[59] On 12 August 2004, Azad was found dead in his apartment in Munich, Germany, where he had arrived a week earlier to conduct research on the nineteenth-century German romantic poet Heinrich Heine.[60] His family demanded an investigation, alleging that the extremists who had attempted the earlier assassination had a role in this death.[58]

Suspects and arrests

On 26 April 2006 a Majlish-e-Shura member of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh named Salahuddin was arrested by RAB from Chittagong as a suspected attacker on Humayun Azad. Salahuddin, accused in 33 cases, was awarded death penalty for another murder case.[61]

On 2 March 2013, the Bangladesh Detective Bureau arrested five members of the extremist organisation Ansarullah Bangla Team for the murder of Ahmed Rajib Haider.[62] The five, all students of North South University, confessed to the crime in front of a magistrate.[17]

On 2 March 2015, Rapid Action Battalion arrested Farabi Shafiur Rahman, a radical Islamist as a suspected murderer of Avijit Roy. It was suspected by the police that Farabi had exchanged Roy's location, identity, family's photographs with various people.[63] Farabi had threatened Roy several times through blogs and social media sites including Facebook. He said on different posts and comments that Roy would be killed upon his arrival in Dhaka.[64][65]

On 14 August 2015 Bangladesh police said that they had arrested two men, suspected to be members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team, in connection with the murder of Niloy Neel.[1]

On 18 August 2015, three members of Ansarullah Bangla Team, including a British citizen named as Touhidur Rahman who police described as "the main planner of the attacks on Avijit Roy and Ananta Bijoy Das", had been arrested in connection with the two murders.[66]

Death Sentences in Rajib Haider case

Owing to intense media pressure (national and international), several blogger murder cases have been handled by "fast-track trial courts".[67]

On Dec 30, 2015, just under three years, two members of Ansarullah Bangla Team, Md Faisal Bin Nayem and Redwanul Azad Rana were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death for the murder. Faisal, the court said, was the one who attacked Haider with a meat cleaver.[68] Rana is absconding and was sentenced in absentia. Another member of the outlawed outfit, Maksudul Hasan was also guilty of murder and given a life sentence.[69] Five other members of ABT, including firebrand leader Mufti Jasim Uddin Rahmani received jail terms of five to ten years.[70] One person had a term of three years.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Two arrested over Bangladesh blogger Niloy Neel killing". BBC News. 14 August 2015.
  2. ↑ "Fourth secular Bangladesh blogger hacked to death". aljazeera.com. 7 August 2015.
  3. ↑ Manik, Julfikar Ali; Yardley, Jim (3 March 2013). "At Least 19 Killed as Unrest Persists in Bangladesh". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "American atheist blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Arrests of 'atheist bloggers' shows Bangladesh authorities are "walking into a trap set by fundamentalists"". International Humanist and Ethical Union. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "Bangladesh: Crackdown on Bloggers, Editors Escalates". Human Rights Watch. 15 April 2013. "the government is abandoning any serious claim that it is committed to free speech," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch."
  7. ↑ "Bangladesh: Further information: Detained editor alleges torture". Amnesty International. 17 April 2013. Blogger Asif Mohiudeen, arrested on 3 April for allegedly posting blasphemous comments online, remains in detention and at risk of torture
  8. ↑ "Call for detained blogger's immediate release". Reporters without Borders. 11 April 2013. Reporters Without Borders condemns the baseless judicial proceedings brought against the detained blogger Asif Mohiuddin, who could be tried and convicted on a charge of blasphemy and "hurting religious sentiments" at his next hearing
  9. ↑ "Attacks on the Press – Bangladesh". Committee to Protect Journalists. Feb 2014.
  10. ↑ "Top authors including Salam Rushdie urge Bangladesh govt to halt blogger attacks". The Daily Star. Agence France-Presse. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  11. 1 2 "'Militant atheist' blogger stabbed in Bangladesh". The Hindustan Times. Agence France-Presse. 15 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  12. 1 2 "Bloggers on hit-list posted by supposed Islamist group in Bangladesh". Reporters Without Borders. 19 November 2014.
  13. ↑ King, Neil; Early, Samantha (22 April 2014). "'I have to help the people of Bangladesh'". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Killers hacked Rajib first, then slit his throat: police". bdnews24.com. 16 February 2013.
  15. ↑ John Chalmers (15 April 2013). "Islamist agitation fuels unrest in Bangladesh". Chicago Tribune.
  16. 1 2 Jim Yardley (16 February 2013). "Vast Throng in Bangladesh Protests Killing of Activist". The New York Times.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "'Shibir leader behind Rajib murder’". bdnews24.com. 10 March 2013.
  18. ↑ "Youth hacked injured at Mirpur". The Daily Star. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "Another blogger stabbed at Pallabi". bdnews24 (Bangladesh). 7 March 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  20. ↑ "Atheist US blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh". The Daily Telegraph. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  21. ↑ "Blogger Avijit hacked to death on DU campus". New Age (Dhaka). 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  22. 1 2 3 Corcoran, Kieran; Matthew, Sam (27 February 2015). "Moment Avijit Roy's wife was left next to her husband's body after he was hacked to death". Daily Mail.
  23. ↑ "Director-General urges Action to bring the killers of blogger Washiqur Rahman Babu to trial". UNESCO Press. 9 April 2015.
  24. ↑ Tahmina Anam (3 April 2015). "Save Bangladesh's Bloggers". New York Times Opinion.
  25. ↑ "Dangerous desensitisation". The Daily Star. 3 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "Knife attack kills Bangladesh blogger Washiqur Rahman". BBC News. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  27. ↑ "Ansarullah behind Wasiq murder: DMP". The Daily Observer (Dhaka). 2 April 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  28. 1 2 Chowdhury, Arun; Shams, Shamil (30 March 2015). "Bangladeshi bloggers pay the price of upholding secularism". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  29. ↑ "CPJ concerned by arrest of Bangladeshi journalist and his treatment in custody". Committee to Protect Journalists. 1 April 2015.
  30. 1 2 Ahmed, Saeed (13 May 2015). "Ananta Bijoy Das: Yet another Bangladeshi blogger hacked to death". CNN. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  31. ↑ "Slain blogger Ananta Bijoy Das' last words in 'devil's world'". bdnews24.com. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  32. 1 2 Hammadi, Saad. "Third atheist blogger killed in Bangladesh knife attack". the Guardian. AgenceFrance-Presse. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  33. 1 2 3 "The Guardian view on the murder of Ananta Bijoy Das: an assault on a universal value". The Guardian (editorial). 12 May 2015.
  34. ↑ "Bangladesh blogger Ananta Bijoy Das hacked to death". BBC News. 12 May 2015.
  35. ↑ "Bangladesh: Killing of Blogger Blow to Free Speech". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  36. 1 2 "Blogger killed once again". The Daily Star. 8 August 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  37. ↑ "Blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh, fourth this year". Reuters. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  38. 1 2 3 Pokharel, Sugam; Smith-Spark, Laura (7 August 2015). "Bangladeshi blogger Niloy Neel hacked to death in latest attack". CNN. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  39. ↑ "Bangladesh blogger Niloy Neel hacked to death in Dhaka". BBC News. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  40. ↑ "Niloy Neel, fourth secular blogger killed in Bangladesh this year". India Today. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  41. ↑ "Un grupo yihadista reivindica el asesinato de un bloguero en Bangladesh". El Diario (in Spanish). EFE. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  42. ↑ "Bangladesh: Secular blogger Niloy Neel hacked to death in Islamist militant attack". International Business Times. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  43. ↑ "Secular blogger Niloy Neel hacked to death in Bangladesh". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  44. ↑ Banerjie, Monideepa (7 August 2015). "4th Secular Blogger Killed In Bangladesh In 6 Months". NDTV. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  45. ↑ "Bangladesh: UN experts condemn killing of blogger Niloy Neel". scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  46. ↑ "Niloy murder: Amnesty calls for trial of killers". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  47. ↑ "Germany condemns Niloy murder". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  48. ↑ "Bangladesh PM, Jamaat condemn blogger's murder". Business Standard. IANS. 8 August 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  49. ↑ "Bangladesh: Stop Promoting Self-Censorship". Human Rights Watch. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  50. ↑ "Moncho, rights bodies condemn Niloy murder". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  51. ↑ Nasreen, Taslima (8 August 2015). "Why I blame Sheikh Hasina for Niloy Neel's death". The Daily O. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  52. ↑ "যোগাযোগ" [Contacts]. Jagriti Prakashani. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  53. ↑ Avijit Roy (21 January 2015). "The Virus of Faith". অভিজিৎ রায়'s Blog. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  54. ↑ "Bangladeshi secular publisher hacked to death". BBC News. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  55. 1 2 3 Margaret Bald (1 January 2006). Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds. Infobase Publishing. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-8160-7148-7. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  56. ↑ "Bangladesh Teacher arrested for having a copy of a book by Taslima Nasrin, – Asia News". asianews.it. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  57. ↑ Griswold, Eliza (23 January 2005). "The Next Islamist Revolution?". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  58. 1 2 "Proper probe into death of Humayun Azad demanded". The Daily Star. 12 August 2009.
  59. ↑ Zaman, Mustafa; Hussain, Ahmede (2004). "Humayun Azad: A Truncated Life". Star Weekend Magazine (The Daily Star).
  60. ↑ "Humayun Azad found dead in Munich". The Daily Star. 14 August 2004. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  61. ↑ "An 'attacker' of Humayun Azad". The Daily Star. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  62. ↑ "2 more testify in blogger Rajeeb murder case". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  63. ↑ "Atheist blogger Avijit Roy 'was not just a person … he was a movement'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  64. ↑ "Bangladesh Avijit Roy murder: Suspect arrested". BBC News. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  65. ↑ "Bangladesh authorities arrest man over atheist blogger's murder". The Guardian. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  66. ↑ "Bangladesh arrests British citizen, said to be 'main planner' of murders of two bloggers". Straits Times. 18 August 2015.
  67. ↑ http://www.ibtimes.co.in/bangladesh-court-awards-death-2-life-term-1-bloggers-murder-661570
  68. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35204243
  69. ↑ http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/sentenced-death-murdering-bangladesh-blogger-151231085325271.html
  70. ↑ http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-2-sentenced-to-death-for-killing-secular-blogger-in-bangladesh-2161051
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