American-Bangladeshi blogger hacked to death in Dhaka

His wife also suffered injuries in the attack


Afp February 26, 2015
Avijit Roy, founder of Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog site suffered machete blows to the head. PHOTO: AVIJIT ROY's FACEBOOK PAGE

DHAKA: A US blogger of Bangladeshi origin was on Thursday hacked to death in Dhaka by unidentified assailants, police said, with his family saying the writer had received numerous threats from  militants.

Avijit Roy, founder of Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog site which champions liberal secular writing in the Muslim majority nation, suffered machete blows to the head.

"He died as he was brought to the hospital. His wife was also seriously wounded in the attack. She has lost a finger," local police chief Sirajul Islam said, adding that the attack occurred when the couple were  returning from a book fair.

Police have launched a probe and recovered the machetes used in the attack on Roy, said to be around 40, but refused to say whether militants were behind the incident.

But Roy's father said the blogger, a US citizen, had received a number of "threatening" emails and messages on social media from militants unhappy with his blog.

"He was a secular humanist and has written about ten books and numerous articles," his father Ajoy Roy told AFP.

Roy is the second Bangladeshi blogger to have been murdered and the fourth writer to have been attacked since 2004.

Atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider was hacked to death in 2013 by members of a little known militant group, triggering nationwide protests by the tens of thousands of secular activists.

"The attack on Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed is outregeous. We strongly protests this attack and are deeply concerned," Imran H. Sarker, head of an association for bloggers in Bangladesh, told AFP.

COMMENTS (3)

AgustinMcChesney | 9 years ago | Reply Normally I don't read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to check out and do it! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thank you, very nice article.
নামে কি আসে যায় | 9 years ago | Reply This is clearly done by "pakistani left over" people in Bangladesh. Although we won the war, still some people continued their east-pakistani nationality. They are the supreme authority in Bangladesh spreading extremism, violent fundamentalism, hatred and what not. Dear pakistani people, with due respect, I humbly request you to take your asset back. You won't find people more loyal to "pakistani" ideal anywhere else in the world.
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