Thursday, May 21, 2015

'Our country could become like Afghanistan': Bangladesh's bloggers are living in fear...

The Bangladeshi blogger who goes by the name of Euklid fears, unsurprisingly, for his safety. But in the face of a spree of attacks on his online colleagues, what frightens him even more is the future of his country, he says. "The government should act quickly and neutralize these militant groups, otherwise Bangladesh could become like Afghanistan or Iraq."

Euklid, a 24-year-old engineering student who describes himself as an "atheist" blogger, was speaking a week after the murder of his fellow writer Ananta Bijoy Das in Bangladesh’s northern city of Sylhet, which has brought to three the number of secular citizen journalists hacked to death in the last three months. A fourth blogger was also killed in similar circumstances just over two years ago.

On Monday, Unesco director-general Irina Bokova condemned the murder of Das, and called on the Bangladesh authorities to bring those responsible to justice.

Expressing fear for safety of citizen journalists in Bangladesh, Bokova added: "Punishing such attacks is indispensable to maintain free public debate and free expression by media professionals and committed citizens alike."

 The macabre killings - involving masked men attacking the writers with machetes on the streets of two of the country’s major cities, and then glorifying in the killings in online posts - have shocked most people in this Muslim-majority but avowedly secular country. Full story...

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  3. Bangladesh police stood close by during U.S. blogger attack: victim's wife...
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  5. Knife attack kills Bangladesh blogger Washiqur Rahman...
  6. Hang atheist bloggers: Bangladeshi Muslims call for execution of blasphemers...
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