Bloggers Die in Bangladesh

It’s been open season on bloggers in Bangladesh. Particularly those who are critical of Islam.

 

Ananta Bijoy Das (left), 32, was killed Tuesday morning as he left his home on his way to work at a bank in the northeastern Bangladeshi city of Sylhet. Four masked men attacked him, hacking him to death with cleavers and machetes, said Sylhet Metropolitan Police Commissioner Kamrul Ahsan. Das wrote blogs for Mukto-Mona [Free Mind] – a website once moderated by Avijit Roy – to champion secular and humanist writing in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

On March 30, 2015, Washiqur Rahman (left), 27, was hacked to death by two men close to his home in Dhaka's Begunbari area. He was so maimed – with wounds to his head, face and neck – that police identified him through the voter identification card he was carrying. Rahman blogged under a pen-name, Kucchit Hasher Channa, or Ugly Duckling. According to the Dhaka Tribune newspaper, he had criticized irrational religious beliefs.

 

On February 26, 2015, a Bangladesh-born American blogger, Avijit Roy (left), 43, was similarly killed with machetes and knives – in full view of horrified onlookers – while he was visiting Dhaka. His widow suffered head injuries and lost a thumb.

 

The above deaths have sparked concerns for freedom of speech in Bangladesh.

 

In 2014, Reporters Without Borders reported that a group calling themselves Defenders of Islam in Bangladesh had published a "hit list" of writers they saw as opposing Islam. A few years back, hard-line Islamists had demanded a blasphemy law to stop bloggers they perceive to be anti-Islamic from writing about Islam.

 

Attacks against bloggers are not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh.

 

On the night of March 07, 2013, Sunnyur Rahaman, 26, was attacked by two men who ambushed him with machetes in the Mirpur area of Dhaka. On February 15, 2013, Ahmed Rajib Haider, 30, was hacked to death as he was leaving his house, also in Mirpur. And on January 14, 2013, Asif Mohiuddin, 29, was wounded by three unidentified machete-wielding attackers near his office in Dhaka's upscale Uttara district.

 

Also prominent writer Taslima Nasreen had to leave Bangladesh after she received death threats from so-called Islamists. In fact, on September 23, 1993, a fatwa was issued for her death.

It looks like bloggers and writers are not safe in Bangladesh.

I was in Segambut in KL on Wednesday to deliver a CC speech #2 titled “The Storyteller” – this was at the Tan Chong Segambut Toastmasters meeting – and I talked about how imagination can help us create content for speeches. As an illustration, I used my Hulk speeches to illustrate how I did it.

Image credit: http://www.comicartfans.com/Images/Category_3370/subcat_5321/jXkMlTED_0307141200451.jpg. CC#5: The Hulk delivered on January 21, 2015 @ Kijang Toastmasters Club

The Entertaining Speaker manual – speech #2 Make Them Laugh: The Hulk Meets Shrek delivered on February 24, 2015 @ Taman Indrahana Toastmasters Club

CC#6: The Hulk Meets Green Goblin delivered on February 26, 2015 @ E&Y Toastmasters Club.

CC#4: The Hulk Meets Dracula delivered on March 14, 2015 @ SMK Subang Utama’s YLP

CC#5: The Hulk Meets Snow White delivered on March 19, 2015 @ Sunway University Toastmasters Club

CC#3: The Hulk Meets Rapunzel delivered on April 08. 2015 @ MIA Toastmasters Club

The meeting was pretty decent even if there were only ten of us (including four guests). At least we started on time and also finished on time. I would score this meeting a 4 over 10.