Fourth blogger hacked to death with machetes this year in Bangladesh
Gang armed with machetes broke into writer's apartment Friday and killed him.
Murdered blogger Niloy Neel. |
The death of 40-year-old Niloy Chakrabarti, who uses the name Niloy Neel in writing, sparked protests Friday in Dhaka, according to local press reports. As many as six men, armed with machetes, broke into his Dhaka apartment and hacked him to death.
The journalist had contributed to the humanist blogging platform Mukto-Mona. His posts often were critical of Islam. Mukto-Mona was established by another blogger—Avijit Roy, who was murdered in Bangladesh in February.
Rights groups condemned all of the bloggers' murders.
"This spate of savage killings must end here. There is little doubt that these especially brutal killings are designed to sow fear and to have a chilling effect on free speech. This is unacceptable," said David Griffiths, South Asia research director at Amnesty International. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Bangladeshi authorities to take action. "How many more bloggers must be murdered before the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina acts decisively to stem the violence and impunity?" the group asked.
Overseas reports said his most recent writings had condemned the killing of three fellow bloggers, supported women and minority rights, and criticized the maltreatment of Hindus in the South Asian nation of 160 million people.
He posted to Facebook on May 15 that he was being followed after protesting the death of another blogger, according to AFP. He said the police declined to investigate the complaint and instead told him to leave Bangladesh. The Committee to protect journalists said Chakrabarti's name "appeared on a widely circulated list calling for the deaths of 854 bloggers perceived to be atheists."
The committee said that 17 journalists in Bangladesh have been murdered since 1992, when the committee began keeping records.
"Most of the cases have not been resolved," the committee said.
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