Al Jazeera The stream - The dangers of blogging in Bangladesh
From "The Stream" website.
Reuters Exclusive - Widow of slain U.S.-Bangladeshi blogger lashes out at Dhaka
[caption id="attachment_4452" align="aligncenter" width="532"]
Rafida Ahmed, who is recovering from injuries including the loss of her thumb suffered during a hacking attack by jihadi assailants, speaks during an interview with Reuters near Washington April 23, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer[/caption]
Urge the Bangladeshi government to speak up and pursue a thorough investigation.
March 26th marks one month from the date my husband, Avijit Roy, and I were brutally attacked on the Dhaka University campus. Avijit wrote about science and humanity, critiqued religious fundamentalism, and created the first online Bangla platform for Freethinking. For these reasons, religious extremists hacked Avijit to death with machetes. The attack occurred in a crowded place with dozens of eyewitnesses, surveillance cameras, and police checkpoints. An Islamist terrorist group, "Ansarullah Bangla-7" has even claimed responsibility on social media for the attack. Despite all these leads, the only progress that has been made after one month of investigation is a seemingly tangential arrest.
AVIJIT'S MURDER & APOLOGIST MODERATE ISLAM
The murder of Avijit Roy: championing illiberal liberals
Avijit Roy and His Legacy
Published in the Free Inquiry magazine, a publication of the Center for Free Inquiry (CFI), USA. Please read and leave a comment. (I would suggest to leave a comment on the CFI website so that those more Americans can see it.)
Victory is Inevitable
By now you may have come to know that the founder and one of the moderators of Mukto-Mona blog Dr. Avijit Roy was brutally attacked and hacked to death on 26th February, 2015 in Bangladesh. His visit to Dhaka was primarily to spend time with his ailing mother. However, it was just natural that while there, he would attend Ekushey Boimela (the month-long national book fair held every year in February commemorating the 1952 Bangla language movement). He had two books published this year – "Victoria Ocampo" and "Shunno Theke Mohabissho" (From Zero to Infinity) co-authored by Dr. Mizan Rahman. Both have been well received by readers and critics. He longed for a chance to meet and greet friends and readers in a cordial atmosphere and Ekushey Boimela was indeed a unique opportunity for him. Understandably, he was enjoying a great time in the book fair.
AFTER THE MURDER OF AVIJIT
In response to my very brief post (written in utmost grief) "Chhi Chhi" of 27th February 2015 in this blog following the gruesome murder of Avijit Roy, one Huseyin Rahmi Guner commented " … If anyone slew a person unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land it would be as if he slew the whole humanity: and if anyone saved a life it would be as if he saved the life of the whole humanity." (Al-Qur'an 5:32).
Avijit da, we are still writing
You already have been informed of the murder of Mr. Avijit Roy, writer and freethinker, by the barbaric attack of Islamist hardliners in Dhaka last week. For our international readers, necessary information on his work and career has already been and will be published by other writers in this website, therefore, I will not add any formal view of his life hereafter. This is for the first time I am writing in Muktomona, and it is a tribute, of course, to my hero - as I used to call him - Avijit da (brother). I knew he would stop someday, but this early? Never I imagined. A sharp pang of sorrow has shot through me on hearing his premature passing away. I cried, I got agitated, but then I decided to speak out. I am writing for Avijit da, I am writing for letting those fanatics know that neither Avijit, nor his ideology is dead.