Bangladeshi blogger hacked to death

JournalismPakistan.com | Published 10 years ago

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi blogger has been hacked to death in the country's capital, Dhaka, and police have arrested two students at an Islamic seminary in connection with the slaying. Washiqur Rahman's killing comes a month after a deadly attack on another blogger in the capital by Islamists.

Rahman, 26, was attacked at 9 a.m. (local time) by three men who used meat cleavers, a local police official told the Dhaka Tribune. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival, the newspaper reported.

The newspaper said Rahman was apparently targeted for his writings about Islam. Two people were arrested and a third suspect fled.

The Tribune reported that Rahman's Facebook page contained posts that opposed what he called irrational religious belief. It said one of the Facebook groups he belonged to was called Atheist Bangladesh.

Rahman had apparently expressed solidarity on Facebook with Avijit Roy, the Bangladeshi-American blogger who was hacked to death Feb. 27 in Dhaka for "crime[s] against Islam." On Facebook, Rahman had posted #iamavijit after Roy's killing.

Blogger Rajeeb Haider was hacked to death on Feb. 15, 2013, for apparently the same reason.

Muslims make up about 90 percent of the country's 166 million people. - AP