UPDATED::Avijit Roy's publisher, 2 bloggers hacked in Dhaka | Dhaka Tribune

UPDATE::Bangladeshi Police Arrest Islamic Radical Suspected of Attacking Publisher of Atheist Books

I bring all that up because Bangladeshi police may have found Tutul’s assailant. The police made headlines last week when they rounded up at least 3,000 people (some estimates say 8,000) suspected of being Islamic radicals. One of those suspects has now been charged with carrying out the attack on Tutul,,,

__
And it continues, first Avijit Roy, continuing with Washiqur Rahman, Ananta Bijoy Das, and then Niloy Neel.  Sadly now, Faisal Arefin Dipon; publisher of some of Roy’s books as head of the Jagriti Prakashani publishing house.

Three bloggers and writers, including the publisher of Shuddhashar Prokashani, Ahmedur Rashid Tutul, have been hacked in the capital's Lalmatia area.

Shuddhashar Prokashani published slain writer-blogger Avijit Roy's book Shunya Theke Mahabishwa and the publisher reportedly received death threat after the brutal murder of Avijit. Tutul has written two poetry books--Durbalataguchchha, Mrita Ghorhar Hresha.


Two other injured bloggers-writers are--Sudeep Kumar Ray Barman, who writes under the name of Ranadipam Basu, and Tareq Rahim.

Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Friendly Atheist has a nice write up with responses from the Center For Inquiry-US, Centre For Inquiry-Canada and the American Humanist Association.

If you do not speak out against the extremism you condone it, it is no longer fringe when it is occurs in our everyday life.  Religion (all religion) must be eliminated from the public sphere.

Avijit Roy's publisher, 2 bloggers hacked in Dhaka | Dhaka Tribune

See also: Bangladesh: Publisher of secular books Faisal Arefin Deepan hacked to death

Are you sure you’re not the next target? | Dhaka Tribune

Niloy Neel, the last blogger to be killed, knew that his life was in danger. After his murder, it has been learnt that he went to the police seeking protection. But instead of giving him protection, the police advised him to go abroad. It has also been learned that Niloy told others about this matter on May 15.

When are we ever going to learn that, sometimes, making things public instead of keeping them secret can ensure protection? The friends of Niloy who knew were probably concerned about him, but what about the possibility that if they had made the matter public, could Niloy’s life could have been saved? After Ananta was killed, we came to know that he had been trying but had failed to go abroad. His friends knew this.

But there is no reason to feel upset that those friends failed to create a security cordon around him. The machete is filling up the gap created by our inability to form solidarity. The quicker you realise that, the better it will be.

Are you sure you’re not the next target? | Dhaka Tribune

Extremist killing of atheist bloggers stirs panic in Bangladesh - The Globe and Mail

“My best friend, my husband is gone. How can I survive in a conservative society like this where I am not safe because I am a woman?” she says. “I want to leave. I don’t want to die here.”

__

 The day he was hacked to death with a butcher’s blade, Niloy Chatterjee slept in. Muslims in Bangladesh were preparing for Friday morning prayers but Mr. Chatterjee, an outspoken atheist, had no such demands on his time. He rose at 11 a.m. and walked to a nearby vegetable market while his wife of two years, Asa Moni, scrubbed pots at home.

He returned with potatoes and salt, sweaty from the humidity that drenches Dhaka in the final weeks of the rainy season. He showered, then sat down on his bed with his laptop.

Moments later, he was dead.

,,,

Such writings were controversial even among fellow atheists.

“They were a bit irresponsible,” Mr. Alam said. “You cannot change a society that doesn’t trust you, that hates you, that wants to kill you.”

Mr. Alam has sought to bridge religious differences to enable dialogue. He desires a country “where people are more tolerant about each other’s views.”

Still, the blogger deaths have scared him. He recently installed a welded metal gate at the foot of his stairs and two dogs now stand guard outside his room.

“After Niloy was killed in his home, I got a bit paranoid,” he says.

,,,

For Ms. Asa Moni, hope is far from mind. For three nights after Mr. Chatterjee died, she screamed into the darkness, plagued by images of the attack.

The knock on the door came as her husband tapped at his computer. She opened the door to a strange man who said the landlord had sent him to look at the apartment.

The man was perhaps 20 years old, thin and dressed in a black T-shirt and blue jeans. He walked around twice, then stood in front of the kitchen and began mashing buttons on his mobile phone.

Moments later, three people barged into the apartment, brandishing a gleaming chapati, a rectangular cleaver made to splinter bone. They said nothing, instead moving straight toward Mr. Chatterjee, who had come to the bedroom door.

With their first swing, they severed parts of one hand. Chunks of his fingers fell to the floor.

“Who are you guys?” was all Mr. Chatterjee could manage before an attacker brandishing a pistol pushed Ms. Asa Moni onto the apartment’s veranda. “Save us! Save us!” she screamed.

But the attack was viciously efficient. The men left within minutes, Mr. Chatterjee’s head almost completely severed from his body.

Extremist killing of atheist bloggers stirs panic in Bangladesh - The Globe and Mail

UPDATE::Two arrested over Bangladesh blogger Niloy Neel killing - BBC News

So this is definte progress on Neel's assassination,,,

Bangladesh police say they have arrested two suspected members of a banned Islamist group over the killing of atheist blogger Niloy Neel.

The two men were suspected members of Ansarullah Bangla Team, a militant group accused of links to previous attacks on bloggers, police said.

Mr Neel was hacked to death by a gang armed with machetes at his home in the capital Dhaka last week.
It was the fourth such killing of a secular blogger this year.

Police say the two men being held are key suspects in Mr Neel's murder.

Mr Neel's attackers had tricked their way into his home by saying they were looking to rent a flat.

Bangladesh is officially secular but critics say the government is indifferent to attacks on bloggers by Islamist militants.

Two arrested over Bangladesh blogger Niloy Neel killing - BBC News

UPDATE::Three Niloy murder suspects under scanner | Dhaka Tribune

The 3 following posts concern the assassinations of the secular Bangladeshi writers over the course of the past years or so.  Because investigative details are sketchy along with the possible overlap in suspects, I not sure which story goes to which writer.  The one commonality is the extremist group Ansar Al Bangla (Ansarullah Bangla Team).

Detectives yesterday started extensive surveillance on three suspects for their involvement in the murder of Niladri Chatterjee, who was killed on Friday at his Goran flat allegedly in the hands of radical Islamists.

The trio were identified based on statements of the wife of the slain secularist writer, neighbours and locals, and also by analysing the post-mortem and the inquest reports.

To confirm their identities, the detectives have sent a blood-stained towel and a red T-shirt collected from the ground floor of the building to the forensic department of Dhaka Medical College for DNA test.

They also collected Niloy’s teeth from the flat and sent those for examination.

Investigators said that the eight major stab injuries, found on Niloy’s body, were made by a left-handed killer.

During primary investigation, the detectives have also found that the email claiming responsibilities for the murder was sent to different media outlets after the killing from a laptop based in Hathazari area of Chittagong.

A group named Ansar Al Bangla sent the email, signed by its spokesperson Mufti Abdullah Ashraf. High officials of the Detective Branch of police have said that it was a fake name.

Three Niloy murder suspects under scanner | Dhaka Tribune

UPDATE::Don’t hurt religious sentiment, IGP to bloggers | Dhaka Tribune

Bangladeshi authorities, the local law enforcement officials, have issued a solution to the "problem" of atheist bloggers being hacked to death:

Terming hurting one's religious sentiment as crime, Inspector General of Police (IGP) has advised the free thinkers not to hurt religious sentiment in their writings.

IGP AKM Shahidul Haque said: “According to laws if any one hurts one's feelings, he will be punished by the law.”
Advising the free thinkers, IGP said: “None should cross the limit.”

According to Penal Code and ICT Act, hurting one's religious sentiment is a crime and according to the law one might be punished for 14 years for such offense, said the police chief.

The IGP held a press briefing at Police Headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday afternoon in the wake of criticism against police following the brutal killing of blogger Niladri Chatterjee NIloy.

If only those atheists stopped criticizing religion,,sigh!!

Don’t hurt religious sentiment, IGP to bloggers | Dhaka Tribune

UPDATE::AQIS says its members killed Niloy Neel | Dhaka Tribune

Ansar Al Islam has claimed responsibility for the murder of secular blogger Niladri Chatterjee.

The organisation also known as al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in an email to the media in the evening hailed the murder that took place around 1:30pm in Khilgaon and threatened to destroy the other blasphemers.
The email was sent from ansar.al.islam.bd@gmail.com.

Police suspect that this organisation is none other than recently banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team.
Previously Ansar Al Islam through its Twitter account had claimed responsibilities for the murder of several other secularist activists killed since 2013.

AQIS in May hailed the killing of Ahmed Rajeeb Haider, Ashraful Alam, Prof AKM Shafiul Islam, Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu and Ananta Bijoy Das.

AQIS says its members killed Niloy Neel | Dhaka Tribune

Mukto-Mona Writers' Corner - Statement on the murder of “Niloy Neel”

As my co-host so aptly states, "If your god cannot endure questions, criticism or insults, then he/she/it is psychologically weak."  In other words if your god, your ideology is so weak that you must kill your opposition you may want to re-think your position.

Following the murders of Rajeeb Haider, Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahmna, and Ananta Bijoy Das, today, the Mukto-Mona writer, blogger, and activist Niloy Neel has been hacked to death. He wrote in Mutko-Mona as well as in Istishon, and Facebook under the name of “Niloy Neel” (twitter: #NiloyNeel). In addition to writing, Niloy Neel was involved in various social justice movements and was the founder of the Bangladesh Science and Rationalists Association.

Ansar Al Islam, the Bangladesh branch of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for murdering Niloy Neel in his own home, in front of his family, because of his writing. The fundamentalists continue in their tradition of responding to the pen with machetes; the government of Bangladesh continues to supply the fundamentalists with all that is necessary to keep their machetes honed. One by one the enlightened, the freethinking writers, and activists of Bangladesh, are being brutally murdered. Their only crime is taking a stand against injustice, and superstitions prevalent in society. A machete may kill, in a cowardly manner, a human being of flesh and bone; it cannot kill their ideology. Our fight will continue. With all our strength we will continue to speak our minds, our dreams. For as long as there is even a single member of the freethinking community alive; for as long as a single sentence written by freethinking writers survives.
,,,
Mutkto-Mona strongly condemns the continuing murders of writers, bloggers, and humanists. We call to the government of Bangladesh: Do not pander to fundamentalism anymore. Because no state has been spared by compromising with fundamentalists. Take immediate and effective steps to quell fundamentalism, and to create public awareness against it.

Mukto-Mona Writers' Corner - Statement on the murder of “Niloy Neel”