Four people were killed and more than 200 injured in Bangladesh yesterday as hundreds of Islamists clashed with police in Dhaka and other major cities demanding execution of “atheist bloggers” they accused of blasphemy.



Islamists hate atheists. Their banner says, ‘ We demand the death penalty for atheist bloggers because they use obscene language to criticize Allah, Muhammad and the Quran.’ The banner carries the pictures of atheist bloggers. Asif Mohiuddin is among them. Asif was brutally stabbed by the Islamists a month ago.

His blog is known for its criticism of religions in one of the most conservative parts of the world. Even though Asif is a popular blogger, it is not easy for him to continue publishing his blogs. Islamic newspapers wrote against Asif Mohiuddin and his anti Islamic writings.

Cops asked him to stop writing.

Index for censorship is concerned about Asif’s freedom of expression.

Rajib Haider, another atheist blogger was slaughtered just a few days ago, for saying state and religion should be separated, education system should be completely secular, and politics must not be based on religion.

A few years ago Humayun Azad , an atheist writer, became the victim of a vicious assassination attempt by the Islamists.

Because of the recent barbaric killing of atheists in Bangladesh, Dhormockery, an excellent blog on atheism, created by courageous Bengali atheists is suspended.

Instead of saying ‘they are atheists and they have the right to express their opinions against religion, no one has the right to kill them like no one has the right to kill religous people for being religious’, the liberal and secular people who have been fighting Islamic fundamentalists in Bangladesh, saying, ‘ Jamaat-e-Islami goons are trying to prove they are atheists, but they are not atheists, they are good people (as if atheists are not good people!). We want justice for the murder of bloggers’. It is very alarming that the word atheist is considered as an obscene word in Bangladesh and liberal people do not try to do anything for the freedom of expression of atheists. If not now, then when?

I hope Dhormockery will start again soon. I hope Asif and other atheist bloggers will not be threatened anymore. And after the banning of Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic terrorist organization, the Islamic killers and abusers will go back to their caves where they really belong.

I am probably insulting the ancient cave people. They were obviously much better than today’s Islamists!