DHAKA: Machete-wielding assailants hacked to death a blogger in the Bangladeshi capital, in the latest of a series of attacks on writers supporting freethinking values in the country.

The attack came amidst a crackdown on hard-line Islamist groups, which have increased activities in recent years in the South Asian nation.

Avijit Roy, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin, and his wife and fellow blogger, Rafida Ahmed, were attacked on Thursday evening while returning from a book fair. Ms Ahmed was seriously injured in the attack.

Islamist group claims responsibility for the killing

Police retrieved two machetes from the site. They said they were investigating the involvement of Ansarullah Bangla Team, an Islamist extremist group that claimed responsibility for the murder.

Mr Roy’s family said Islamist radicals had been threatening him in recent weeks because he maintained a blog, “Mukto-mona” or “Freemind”, that highlighted humanist and rationalist ideas and condemned religious extremism.

“Islamist radicals are behind my son’s murder,” Ajay Roy told reporters on Friday after filing a murder case with police.

“We mourn but we are not out,” read a black banner on the site.

The Centre for Inquiry, a US-based non-profit group Mr Roy wrote for, said it was “shocked and heartbroken” by the murder.

“Dr Roy was a true ally, a courageous and eloquent defender of reason, science, and free expression, in a country where those values have been under heavy attack,” it said in a statement.

Hundreds of protesters rallied in Dhaka on Friday to denounce the murder. The demonstrators — including teachers, publishers and fellow writers — met near the attack site.

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. “The government must arrest the killers in 24 hours or face non-stop protests.”

Media group Reporters Without Borders rated Bangladesh 146th among 180 countries in a ranking of press freedom last year.

In 2013, religious extremists targeted several secular bloggers who had demanded capital punishment for Islamist leaders convicted of war crimes.

Blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was killed that year in a similar attack near his home in Dhaka after he led one such protest demanding capital punishment.

In 2004, Humayun Azad, a secular writer and professor at Dhaka University, was also attacked by militants while returning home from a Dhaka book fair. He later died in Germany while undergoing treatment.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2015

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