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| Bangladesh |
| Blogger Asif arrested |
| 2013-04-04 |
[Bangla Daily Star] Detectives yesterday enjuggedBook 'im, Mahmoud! blogger Asif Mohiuddin, who had been attacked by Islamist fanatics in January following alleged postings on the Internet "comments derogatory to Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!)". The arrest comes a day after police captured bloggers Subrata Adhikari Shuvo, Rasel Pervez and Moshiur Rahman Biplob in the capital in connection with similar offences. A team of Detective Branch of police picked up Mohiuddin around 2:00pm yesterday at his sister's Segunbagicha home, where he had been staying since January 13 when he was stabbed by fanatics at Uttara. The arrests came amid strong criticism over the government's role, which many termed as "submissive", after some radical Islamist organizations threatened to unleash anarchy if the "atheist bloggers are not hanged". Many think the arrests would add to the growing frustrations of the youths and online activists who had been agitating from the platform Gonojagoron Mancha since February 5 demanding death penalty for all war criminals. The three bloggers arrested Tuesday were affiliated with the platform. Mollah Nazrul Islam, deputy commissioner of the Detective Branch, yesterday said, "We have arrested Asif as he had posted many pieces insulting Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!) and Islam on different blogs and pages." Nazrul said, "He [Asif] had been continuing his activities even after being attacked." Hours after the arrest of three bloggers and before his own arrest, Asif via facebook condemned and protested the arrests. He said, "To drag religion into politics and playing with it like a football is the real offense towards religion. So separating religion from the state is the primary concern of the blogger community in Bangladesh, and also to save religions from being insulted." |
| Posted by:Fred |