[The assault was eerily similar to a series of attacks on bloggers carried out last year, often in crowded public places. The leader of Al Qaeda’s branch in the Indian subcontinent released a video taking responsibility for two of the killings, calling the victims “blasphemers.” In October came fatal attacks on two men who had published the works of atheist writers.]
By Ellen Barry and Maher
Witnesses said a group of cleanshaven men surrounded Mohammad
Nazim Uddin, a law student, as he walked on the street around 8:30 p.m. on
Wednesday and slashed his head, then shot him when he fell to the ground, said
Syed Nurul Islam, the deputy commissioner of police for Wari, the area of Old
Dhaka where the killing took place.
Mr. Uddin, 26, was a convinced atheist who frequently expressed
his views on Facebook, often posting as many as five times a day. His family
had asked him to stop, fearful that the posts would make him a target, and for
about four months, ending in January, he had complied, said Gulam Rabbi
Chowdhury, a childhood friend.
“To tell the truth, he was always a little detached from his
family; he had trouble with them because of his views on religion,” Mr. Chowdhury
said. “He was very outspoken. He didn’t worry about whether you were with him
or not.”
Mr. Uddin’s killing deepens the sense of dread among those
campaigning for secular causes, said Mr. Chowdhury, an official in a regional
chapter of the Communist Party of Bangladesh.
“If we keep our mouths shut, then they’ll finish the atheists
one by one, and after that, they’ll eventually come to us,” he said. “Everyone
is afraid to speak out now.”
The assault was eerily similar to a series of attacks on bloggers
carried out last year, often in crowded public places. The leader of Al Qaeda’s
branch in the Indian subcontinent released a video taking responsibility for
two of the killings, calling the victims “blasphemers.” In October came fatal
attacks on two men who had published the works of atheist writers.
Many writers and journalists have become hesitant to publish
work that could attract the attention of Islamists, and a growing list of
activists have applied for asylum in Western countries.
Robert D. Watkins, the United Nations resident coordinator in
Bangladesh, called on the government to ensure the perpetrators were brought to
justice.
His statement notes that courts have so far delivered a verdict
in only one of the recent blogger killings, the murder of Rajib Haider in 2013.
As a student, Mr. Uddin was part of the Shahbag movement, which
seeks to punish Islamist leaders convicted of war crimes during the bloody 1971
war for independence from Pakistan.
His Facebook writings focused on the ideological rift that has
opened among young Bangladeshis, between those who see the country as
fundamentally secular and those gravitating toward orthodox Islam.
He frequently urged the government to take a tougher line with
Islamist groups. In one post, he used a proverb to criticize the government’s
approach to rising militancy, likening it to raising a baby snake by feeding it
milk and bananas.
Asked for his religious views, Mr. Uddin wrote, “I have no
religion.”
In August, he responded publicly to what appeared to be threats,
fuming: “No one is forcing you to read or look at what I write. So why this
violence, this murdering?” Then he abruptly ceased his prolific postings,
explaining his decision with a grim verse: “I won’t write anymore. I won’t stay
here anymore. Your hell can stay your own. Everyone can burn or die in this
hell.”
In January, when he resurfaced on social media, his friends
cheered his return and asked why he had been away so long.
Ellen Barry reported from New Delhi, and Maher Sattar from
Dhaka, Bangladesh.