Barely a month since a prominent Bangladeshi- American blogger Avijit Roy was brutally hacked to death another blogger was hacked to death in Bangladesh’s capital. Washiqur Rahman Babu was attacked by three people in Dhaka’s Tejgaon area and died as he was taken to hospital.
Three meat cleavers were recovered from the two suspects that were arrested near the crime scene. The two arrested are students at Islamic schools while a third suspect fled.
Babu was attacked for his anti-Islamic writings according to the arrested suspects. Although it has not been established the kind of blogging Babu did, he had a Facebook page that had the line “lamavijit” that means he was a follower of Avijit Roy who was a blogger that blogged against extremism.
The recent killings of bloggers in Bangladesh are a clear indication of the threatened freedom of speech and independent thinking in the country. A previously unknown Islamist group claimed responsibility for the death of Roy and citing that his writings criticized Islam. The FBI is investigating the incidents that are targeting bloggers who do not conform to the separatists’ way of thinking.
