Reading Time: < 1 minute Having written about this before, I thought it would be worth mentioning again. Bangladesh had floated the idea of becoming secular (again), and then quashed the idea. But so soon after this, the idea has resurfaced. The Independent has reported: Government officials in Bangladesh are considering dropping Islam as the country’s national religion after a senior […]
Bangladesh
Posted inPolitics
Motiur Rahman Nizami: Top Bangladeshi Islamist Leader Hanged
Reading Time: 2 minutes We have all heard about the persecution of atheists, secularists and progressives in Bangladesh over the last few years. One might, at first glance, think this might be retaliation for such, or linked in some way. However, this is clearly not the case. It seems that the lust for secure power is more prominent as […]
Posted inSex & Gender
Bangladesh LGBT editor hacked to death
Reading Time: 2 minutes The BBC is reporting this breaking news, so check back there for updates: Police in Bangladesh say two people including a leading gay rights activist and editor at Bangladesh’s only LGBT magazine have been hacked to death. The US ambassador to Bangladesh condemned the killing of Xulhaz Mannan, who also worked at the US embassy. […]
Posted inThe Secular
Yet Another Bangladeshi Secularist Hacked to Death by Radical Islamists
Reading Time: 2 minutes This depresses me, it really does. How many is this now? The Guardian reports: A Bangladeshi law student who criticised Islamism on his Facebook page has been murdered, police said on Thursday, the latest in a series of killings of secular activists and bloggers in the country. Nazimuddin Samad, 28, had been on a hit […]
Posted inPolitics, The Secular
Bangladesh court upholds Islam as religion of the state
Reading Time: 2 minutes I reported on this the other day. However, unsurprisingly, the move to return Bangladesh to a secular state were ultimately unsuccessful. As AlJazeera reports: Dhaka, Bangladesh – Bangladesh’s High Court on Monday rejected a 28-year-old petition calling for the removal of a constitutional provision recognising Islam as the official religion of the Muslim-majority South Asian nation. […]
Posted inThe Secular
After 28 years, Bangladesh revives case to drop Islam as state religion
Reading Time: < 1 minute At a time when the horrific and violent murder of atheist and secular bloggers (much like myself) in the country of Bangladesh has become all too commonplace, it is interesting to read of the idea that there might be a move to reinstate secularism. As Reuters reports: Legal action to drop Islam as Bangladesh’s state […]
Posted inUncategorized
Holy cow, another death: I would be hacked to death, too
Reading Time: < 1 minute My goodness. Bangladesh, sort it out. SORT IT OUT! I am a secular publisher and author and blogger. On account of all of that, would I be living in Bangladesh, I too would probably have been attacked. The BBC’s Breaking News: Bangladeshi secular publisher hacked to death A Bangladeshi publisher of secular books has been […]
Posted inThe Secular
UN Secretary-General calls for action over deaths of Bangladeshi bloggers
Reading Time: 2 minutes In a statement issued at the weekend, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the killing of Niloy Neel, the fourth humanist blogger in Bangladesh to be hacked to death by Islamists this year, and called on the Government to do more to prevent further attacks. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed his call, and reiterated its own similar desire to see further violence prevented.
Posted inThe Secular
Another atheist blogger murdered; what is to be done?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Bangladesh is not the place to be for freethought. What is to be done against this vicious brand of anti-intellectualism and attack to freedom of thought?
From The Guardian:
Posted inUncategorized
“They liked me, but they have to kill me some day”
Reading Time: 6 minutes What do you say to someone who tried to stab you to death?
The unlikely opportunity to find out presented itself to Asif Mohiuddin not long ago in a jail in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Taken into custody for a second time for allegedly posting “offensive comments about Islam and Mohammed” on his blog, the outspoken atheist blogger and anti-Islamist political activist found himself in a cell next to one of the three assailants who had been waiting outside his office building when he arrived for the night shift on the 14th of January 2013.