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Censorship Crime The Media Science

Third Bangladeshi Blogger Murdered In As Many Months 284

An anonymous reader writes: Ananta Bijoy Das blogged about science in Bangladesh, also sometimes tackling difficult issues about religion. He won an award in 2006 for "deep and courageous interest in spreading secular and humanist ideals and messages." He's now been murdered for his writings, the third Bangladeshi blogger to die in the past few months. Four masked assailants chased him down in broad daylight and attacked him with cleavers and machetes. The Committee to Protect Journalists says Das is the 20th writer to be murdered globally so far this year. Arrests have been made in Bangladesh for the murders of the previous two bloggers this year, but no convictions have yet been made. Das's murderers remain at large.
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Third Bangladeshi Blogger Murdered In As Many Months

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  • by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @01:16PM (#49683113)

    Shows how "progressive" some countries can be.

  • by frovingslosh ( 582462 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @01:21PM (#49683173)
    It's a Muslim thing, you wouldn't understand.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      IF radical christians thought they could get away with murdering people they would do it in a heart beat.

      • IF radical christians thought they could get away with murdering people they would do it in a heart beat.

        Unless you're writing from the Middle Ages, I'm pretty sure that isn't true.

        • Doctors who perform abortions would disagree with you. As would the women who end up dying from miscarriage complications at their Catholic-owned hospital systems. As would the AIDs patients in Africa who were scared away from condom use. There's also the KKK and other white power and militia groups who base their violent rhetoric on fundamentalist Christianity. Or the significant numbers of Christian Dominionists flocking to the military to explicitly wage modern crusade in the Middle East.

          • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

            by XxtraLarGe ( 551297 )

            As would the AIDs patients in Africa who were scared away from condom use.

            This is a nonsensical argument. If the Catholics had as much sway in this arena as you give them, there wouldn't be an AIDS crisis in Africa. The Catholic position on sex is abstinence outside of marriage. If they didn't listen to the Catholics on abstinence, why would they listen to Catholics if they were pushing condoms? There are plenty of valid criticisms against the Catholic church, this is not one of them.

            • by jythie ( 914043 )
              "Listening" is a relative concept. People are not going to stop having sex, but they can be scared into avoiding condoms, which is what the Catholic Church was doing in some African regions for quite some time.

              One does not need to follow all doctorin to be influenced by a subset.
          • by OhPlz ( 168413 )

            No one is getting hacked to death on US streets because Christianity demanded it. Trying to compare the two is a BS argument.

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • IF radical christians thought they could get away with murdering people they would do it in a heart beat.

          Unless you're writing from the Middle Ages, I'm pretty sure that isn't true.

          You [wikipedia.org] don't [wikipedia.org] say [wikipedia.org] ? [wikipedia.org]

          • Re:rather expected (Score:4, Insightful)

            by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @03:26PM (#49684453)

            False equivalence. Killers like Eric Randolph are isolated loners, and their actions were justified by almost no one. In some Muslim countries, including Pakistan, more than 90% of the population support killing people that insult Islam. Another 60% support killing the 10% that are willing to allow the blasphemers to live. Most Pakistanis supported the murder of Rashid Rehman [wikipedia.org], who committed no blasphemy, but, as an attorney, merely agreed to represent someone accused of blasphemy, and stated that there should be a presumption of innocence until the evidence was presented. That was enough for the MAJORITY to approve of his murder.

      • I apologize for my comment. I shouldn't have made it personal.

        I could not disagree more and hold the view to be completely warped in important ways, but I should not have wrote you the way I did.

    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      Local Hindu extremists a few hundred kilometres from that place do pretty much the same thing, only on village level. Wrong religion? Get hacked to death.

    • It's an ignorance thing, you wouldn't understand.

      FTFY.

      And I'm sure most people do understand, even if they purport to decry these occurrences and would never acknowledge that they'd do the same when they're in the same state of ignorance, especially if they thought their lives or the lives of their families were in danger.

      It's a normal distribution, with enlightenment at one end and depravity at the other. Most of us exist somewhere in the center, no matter what we'd like to think about ourselves.

      • Re:rather expected (Score:5, Insightful)

        by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @02:20PM (#49683871) Homepage

        Except there are most definitely religious leaders who advocate this crap.

        It's not merely random depravity, it's systemic.

        Ask Salman Rushdie [wikipedia.org] if this kind of thing is isolated to a few nut jobs.

        On 14 February 1989, the day of the funeral of his close friend Bruce Chatwin, a fatwÄ requiring Rushdie's execution was proclaimed on Radio Tehran by Ayatollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of Iran at the time, calling the book "blasphemous against Islam" (chapter IV of the book depicts the character of an Imam in exile who returns to incite revolt from the people of his country with no regard for their safety). A bounty was offered for Rushdie's death, and he was thus forced to live under police protection for several years. On 7 March 1989, the United Kingdom and Iran broke diplomatic relations over the Rushdie controversy.

        The publication of the book and the fatwÄ sparked violence around the world, with bookstores firebombed. Muslim communities in several nations in the West held public rallies, burning copies of the book. Several people associated with translating or publishing the book were attacked, seriously injured, and even killed.[note 1] Many more people died in riots in some countries.

        This has nothing at all to do with a 'normal distribution', and everything to do with officially sanctioned violence.

    • And a Russian thing [wikipedia.org]. And a Mexican thing. [thedailybeast.com]
  • guess what (Score:5, Insightful)

    by slashmydots ( 2189826 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @01:28PM (#49683225)
    Guess who's behind it. Go ahead, guess without even reading the summary. It's "the religion of peace" again. You know, the one that tells people to cut off other people's heads and enslave them and that everyone is an enemy and most crimes are punishable by death?
    • Kinda like the one that says divorced women should be killed, and stuff?

      • Kinda like the one that says divorced women should be killed, and stuff?

        Not everything in the bible is a prescription of what should be. Much of it is accounts of the various ways people, governments, and society were horrible.
        If you're having trouble distinguishing between what is a religious tenet and what is an account, you may want to try thinking, or you may want to give up.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by gstoddart ( 321705 )

          Of course the problem with that statement is that it is not uncommon for religious people to treat this as a prescription and a set of rules.

          Not nearly uncommon enough.

          There more certainly are people who want to have a literal interpretation of the bible ... and therefore assert the Earth is only 6000 years old, and that dinosaur fossils are a ruse put there by god.

          Honestly, atheists seldom go around killing people over irrational things in their holy book. Maybe for random irrational reasons, but not beca

        • by Layzej ( 1976930 )

          Who gets to choose which to follow and which to reject? How about these stories about how the early christian church redistributed wealth. Abhorrent or tenet?

          "No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sol

      • The actual prescription is to kill both man and woman.

        [Lev 20:10 KJV] 10 And the man that committeth adultery with [another] man's wife, [even he] that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

        Adding in, that it takes a couple witnesses to execute anyone, it was highly rare that the biblical standards were met.

    • To be fair, the Christian bible says much the same sort of thing, but the correct implementation of God's will is spotty at best.

  • by Runaway1956 ( 1322357 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @01:30PM (#49683247) Homepage Journal

    Islam is the religion of peace! Well, except for a few radicals, maybe 2 or 3 percent, which would only make about a million radicals. And, maybe except for their supporters, maybe 20 percent or so, which would make about 200 million. Other than that, it's mostly moderates, who won't actually go out and jihad, but they'll cheer the jihadists on. You've nothing to fear from Islam, there's just no way that there are more than a three or four hundred million activists and jihadists combined!

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by bouldin ( 828821 )

      If Islam is like American-style Christianity, its followers actively ignore the words of their own prophet so they can do whatever atrocious shit they wanted to do anyway.

      For Christianity, that means hating gays, subjugating minorities, and living a selfish, materialistic life while judging others.

      Not only is there no biblical basis for those things, the RED words in the bible point the exactly opposite direction.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by bouldin ( 828821 )
        I should add, not all the followers do those things, but the ones that do are pretty shameless about it.
      • Islam is nothing like christianity. Christ (the new testament) at least teaches love and forgiveness. In islam it is the very prophet that incites and orders followers to commit those atrocities. Those muslims are not ignoring the words of their prophet but acting in accordance with god's command, which is exactly the problem.
      • If Islam is like American-style Christianity, its followers actively ignore the words of their own prophet so they can do whatever atrocious shit they wanted to do anyway.

        For Christianity, that means hating gays, subjugating minorities, and living a selfish, materialistic life while judging others.

        This is actually a pretty common misconception about Islam. You're correct in saying that Christians are hypocrites when they do any of those things, because it runs contrary to the teachings of Christ. You can't say the same about Muslims when they commit acts like this, because they are expressly commanded by Muhammed either in the Quran or the Hadith (honor killings, killing apostates, drawing images of the "prophet", etc.).

        • You can't say the same about Muslims when they commit acts like this, because they are expressly commanded by Muhammed either in the Quran or the Hadith (honor killings, killing apostates, drawing images of the "prophet", etc.).

          Honor killings are definitely not prescribed by Islamic law. They tend to be most common in Islamic societies because these societies are - let's face it - relatively primitive and more family-oriented (not in a good way). But I've read about Hindus doing the same thing, and I susp

      • by Stripe7 ( 571267 )
        You forgot the outright murder of doctors and nurses, seems a very Christian thing to do in the Mid-West.
      • Christianity on gays "we don't want gays to be married"
        Islam on gays "We will kill gays"

        Christianity on Minorities "people are people"
        Islam on Minorities "Convert to Islam, pay a tax or die"

        Christianity on Selfish living "Love one another"
        Islam on Selfish Behavior "Kill the Infadel" "Hate the Jew" "Kill the people of the Cross"

        Christianity on Judging "Love the sinner, hate the sin" "Judge not lest ye be judged"
        Islam on Judging "Kill the infadel"

        Yeah, they are completely the same.

        • The main thing preventing Christians in the U.S. from regularly saying, and acting upon, "We will kill gays", is the protection offered by a secular government.

          But give our U.S. Christians some influence outside our borders, like the American Family Association's encouraging Christian-majority Uganda to pass laws making homosexuality a capital offense, and we find Christian and Islamic fundamentalists to be rather similar.

        • by bouldin ( 828821 )

          Hey, I think you have a pretty good summary of what the Bible teaches here, but I personally know Christians who do not live those values at all. That was my point.

          Can't comment on the koran, as I've spent exactly zero time studying it. Something tells me we aren't going to have anybody stick up for islam on this thread.

          • by HiThere ( 15173 )

            The Koran actually *is* more viscious than even the Old Testament. Partially this is due to the fact that Mohammed spent much of his life leading an armed struggle against armed opponents, and needed to rally and advise his followers (i.e., armies).

            OTOH, it would be quite interesting to know what the New Testament would be like if we had accurate records rather than third hand accounts written down a century or more later. *Was* JC leading a revolutionary action group against the Romans? (Well, against t

            • There is pretty good indication that Matthew was written by an actual witness to the events. These manuscripts copies are within a hundred years of Jesus' life, and are copies of earlier ones. Most scholars view the original manuscript to be closer to 50-60CE, placing it within the lifetime of a contemporary of Jesus, claiming to have known him (20-30 years)

              You can't believe the words written in the Bible, even if they are phrased as quotes. They weren't quotes. They were written down by someone who never met Jesus, and never met anyone who had seen him within the last 30 years.

              That is your opinion. ;)

          • Most (many at least) Christians don't have a clue what the bible actually says. They only know what (parts of) the New Testament says. Most only recite what their pastors preach from the pulpit, or single verses (taken out of context)

            Most couldn't explain why Jesus didn't condemn the whore to stoning, because they don't know. But he was 100% biblical (Torah Compliant) in his approach and there are many lessons that could be learned from that.

            Yes, there are some pretty strong prescriptions in the Bible, but

        • by nyet ( 19118 )

          She's a witch! BURN HER!

      • by bledri ( 1283728 )

        If Islam is like American-style Christianity, its followers actively ignore the words of their own prophet so they can do whatever atrocious shit they wanted to do anyway.

        For Christianity, that means hating gays, subjugating minorities, and living a selfish, materialistic life while judging others.

        Not only is there no biblical basis for those things, the RED words in the bible point the exactly opposite direction.

        The Bible is very vague on whether you should still hate gays, have slaves, stone people, etc... Pretending that

        Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

        obviously means the old law can be ignored is moderate apologetics. All the Abrahamic religions have plenty of fire and brimstone, and killing in the name of God. Ignoring that is just as much an act of cherry-picking as is ignoring the more love and tolerance passages. The fact that it takes a "bible/koran scholar" to make a plausible argument other than "just ignore the old stuff" is problema

      • For Christianity, that means hating gays, subjugating minorities, and living a selfish, materialistic life while judging others.

        Perspective. Christians over here are greedy, call some people some mean names, and are refusing to make a few gay wedding cakes, whilst Muslims are hacking up and beheading people with machetes and you try to draw an equivalence?

        • by bouldin ( 828821 )

          You're the third person to miss the point of what I wrote. The other two posted as AC, though, so I guess I should give you some credit. Here's what I wrote in reply to the first one:

          I didn't compare anything. I suggested some muslims may be ignoring their religion, and gave examples from the dominant religion in my country and how its principles get ignored.

    • Islam is the religion of peace! Well, except for a few radicals, maybe 2 or 3 percent, which would only make about a million radicals. And, maybe except for their supporters, maybe 20 percent or so, which would make about 200 million.

      I actually think you have those numbers closer to reversed. The financial supporters of terrorism seem to pretty much be limited to those loyal middle eastern friends of ours, Saud royal family.

  • by mi ( 197448 ) <slashdot-2017q4@virtual-estates.net> on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @01:35PM (#49683291) Homepage Journal

    The Guardian shies away from discussing the motivation, but even their description of an earlier attack [theguardian.com] alludes to it:

    The body of Avijit Roy, founder of the Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog site – which champions liberal secular writing in the Muslim-majority nation – was found covered in blood after an attack that also left his wife critically wounded.

    Could some Islamic scholar chime in to describe, how such an attack (as well as that against Charlie Hebdo [wikipedia.org], or Pamela Geller [yahoo.com], or Salman Rushdie [theguardian.com]) is not in perfect conformance with Koran?

    No, pointing fingers at other religions will not answer the question and will be ignored.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You could sit down a group of scholars and ask them to find a justification for genocide and they will be able to. Regardless of which book they use.

      But your request is the reverse. You request someone find that there is no support in the quran for this act. I believe that is impossible. It is quite probably just as impossible with the bible or any other book. It is simply too easy to pick any line said by any character and use that for justification of anything.

  • Of course you never read about enraged scientists hacking religious zealots apart...

    • by narcc ( 412956 )

      Well, there was that nasty bit during French Revolution.

  • by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @01:36PM (#49683299)

    >> Arrests have been made in Bangladesh for the murders of the previous two bloggers this year, but no convictions have yet been made.

    You know, in America it would also be rare for a murder conviction to happen the same year an arrest was made. For example:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B... [wikipedia.org]
       

  • Weakness (Score:5, Insightful)

    by chilenexus ( 2660641 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @01:37PM (#49683315)
    It's a weak god indeed that is needs to be protected by semi-illiterates armed with hatchets and cleavers from a guy asking questions and having discussions. Each act like this done in this "god's" name further convinces me there is no possible way it is worthy of worship, or that it exists at all.
  • Chilling Effect. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jythie ( 914043 ) on Wednesday May 13, 2015 @02:35PM (#49684043)
    Well, I guess this is a nice visceral example against the argument that "only" government can censor people or affect what people say publically.

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." - Voltaire

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