On Thursday April 4, the Bangladesh blog, Amar Blog began a “blackout” in protest of the arrest of four atheist bloggers by the Bangladesh authorities on charges of blasphemy. The Amar Blog is a very popular site and their protest has sparked similar protests on many other local blogs.
Atheist bloggers Subrata Adhikary Shuvo, Russell Parvez, and Mashiur Rahman Biplob were all arrested on Monday night and have since been joined by a forth atheist blogger Asif Mohiuddin. Home minister Muhiuddin Khan claims to have identified seven more atheist bloggers that he plans on arresting on blasphemy charges. This could be followed by a great deal more arrests as Islamic leaders have now given a list of 84 bloggers over to a government panel on blasphemy.
According to the AFP, scores of bloggers gathered in Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka to form a human chain in protest of the arrests. Blogger and Dhaka University professor Fahmidul Haq stated:
“We demand their release. The future of Bangladesh is bleak if the freedom expression of the bloggers is curbed.”
Here in the United States, the American Humanist Association has sent out an “Action Alert” calling for atheists and humanists to contact Ambassador Dan Mozena at the United States Embassy in Bangladesh and ask him to step in an lodge a formal complain with the Bangladesh government and demand for the release of the bloggers.
Please check out the Atheism 101 Series for frequently asked topics.
If you enjoy this article, please consider sharing the link. For atheist news, articles, memes, and other fun stuff, join the Facebook group.
Comments