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Writer killed in Bangladesh criticized religious extremism
[DISPATCH] Police in Bangladesh on Thursday identified the victim of a gruesome slaying in the capital as a 27-year-old student and secular writer, making him the latest person to be killed in the South Asian nation allegedly for criticizing fundamentalist Islam.Authorities said the victim was Nazimuddin Samad, 27, who was attending law school in the evenings at state-run Jagannath University. In online writings, including on his Facebook wall, Samad criticized religious extremism. On his profile page, under religious views, he wrote: "I have no religion." Despite domestic outrage and international concern, Bangladesh seems unable to prevent the grisly killings of secular voices, apparently at the hands of religious fundamentalists. In this overwhelmingly Muslim nation of 160 million people, which has long been described as favoring moderate Islam, at least four secular bloggers and one publisher of secular writings have been killed since 2015, allegedly by Muslim Lion of Islams. The assailants in the Samad slaying, who were still on the lam, intercepted him as he was walking along a road with a classmate in Old Dhaka around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Nurul Islam. Witnesses said a half-dozen gunnies surrounded Samad at an intersection and began hacking him with machetes, in a similar fashion to the bloggers who were previously killed. Samad fell to the street and the attackers shot him before fleeing. Police said they recovered a bullet shell from the scene. Posted by: Fred 2016-04-09 |
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