Newsletter: Freedom of expression under attack in Bangladesh

This year four secular bloggers and a journalist have been killed in brutal attacks, with threats against others at an all-time high.   American-Bangladeshi writer and blogger, Avijit Roy was brutally hacked to death in Dhaka in February. Secular blogger, Md Oyasiqur Rahman Babu,  was killed as he went to work in Dhaka in March. In May, Ananta Roy was killed by Islamist extremists in Sylhet in north-eastern Bangladesh. In August, Niloy Neel was brutally killed when four men stormed his home.  In July, Bangladeshi journalist Abu Sayeem was hacked to death in his home.   The attacks on freedom of expression have received widespread international criticism, forcing the Bangladeshi government to act. In early September, there was a justice breakthrough with arrests made in each of the cases of the bloggers’ killings. Each of the bloggers’ killings were carried out by radical Islamists. No arrests have been made in the killing of Abu Sayeem. Read more about the situation here and here.