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Avijit Roy

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Avijit Roy
অভিজিৎ রায়
Roy in 2012
Roy in 2012
Born(1972-09-12)12 September 1972
Bangladesh
Died26 February 2015(2015-02-26) (aged 42)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
OccupationCritic, columnist, engineer
LanguageBengali, English
NationalityAmerican, Bangladeshi
EducationPhD in Biomedical Engineering
Alma materBUET, University of Dhaka, National University of Singapore
GenreAnti-establishment
SpouseRafida Ahmed Bonna
Children1[1]
RelativesAjoy Roy (father)
Shefali Roy (mother)[2]
Website
mukto-mona.com

Avijit Roy (Bengali: অভিজিৎ রায়; 12 September 1972 – 26 February 2015)[3] was a Bangladeshi-American engineer, writer, blogger and secular activist of Bangladeshi origin.[4] Roy was a prominent advocate of free expression in Bangladesh, coordinating international protests against government censorship and imprisonment of bloggers. He was well known for his writings on his self-founded site Mukto-Mona, an Internet community for freethinkers, rationalists, skeptics, atheists, and humanists of mainly Bengali and other South Asian descent. He was hacked to death by unknown assailants in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 26 February 2015.[5]

Early life and education

Avijit was the son of Ajoy Roy, a retired professor of physics at Dhaka University and an Ekushey Padak recipient.[6] Avijit graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from BUET and worked as a lecturer of the same university before leaving Bangladesh for higher education.[7][8][9] He earned a master's and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from National University of Singapore.[10] He was the owner of two US patents.[11] In 2000, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia and had been working as an engineer there until his return to Bangladesh.[12][3][13]

Career

Avijit published eight books in Bengali and his articles have been published in various magazines and journals. His last two books, Obisshahser Dorshon (The Philosophy of Disbelief) and Bishwasher Virus (The Virus of Faith), have been critically well received and are popular Bengali books on science, skepticism, and rationalism.[14][15]

Mukto-Mona

Avijit was the founder[16] and one of eight moderators of the Bangladeshi Mukto-Mona (freethinkers) website which was one of the nominees of The Bobs-Best of Online Activism award.[17][18][19] The site published death threats author Humayun Azad received before he was assassinated.[20]

Avijit described his writing as "taboo" in Bangladesh.[21] He had received death threats from hardline Islamist supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami party for his political articles.[22] Rokomari.com, a Bangladeshi e-commerce site, stopped selling Roy's books after its owner received death threats from Islamists.[23][24]

Protests and advocacy

Many Bangladeshi bloggers supported the 2013 Shahbag protests that sought capital punishment for the Islamist leader and war criminal Abdul Quader Molla as well as the removal of Jamaat-e-Islami from politics. Islamist groups responded by organising protests calling for the execution of "atheist bloggers" accused of insulting Islam, and the introduction of a blasphemy law.[25][26] Many atheist bloggers who supported the Shahbag protests came under attack, and Ahmed Rajib Haider was killed by Islamist groups on 15 February 2013.[18] A month before the protest, blogger Asif Mohiuddin was attacked outside his house by four youths influenced by Anwar Al-Awlaki.[27]

Asif Mohiuddin, a winner of the BOBs award for online activism, was on an Islamist hit list that also included the murdered sociology professor Shafiul Islam.[28] Mohiuddin's blog was shut down by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, and he was jailed for posting "offensive comments about Islam and Mohammed."[29][30] The secular government arrested several other bloggers and blocked about a dozen websites and blogs, as well as giving police protection to some bloggers.[4]

International organisations, including Human Rights Watch,[31] Amnesty International,[32] Reporters without Borders[33] and the Committee to Protect Journalists[34] condemned the imprisonment of bloggers and the climate of fear for journalists.

Avijit Roy wrote that he was disgusted that the Bangladeshi media portrayed young bloggers as "crooks in the public eye"[16] and wrote to Western media outlets and the Center for Inquiry[16] and the International Humanist and Ethical Union[35] for support. Avijit went on to coordinate international protests in Dhaka, New York City, Washington, D.C., London, Ottawa and other cities in support of the jailed bloggers.[36][37] Avijit was joined by writers, activists, and prominent secularists and intellectuals around the world including Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin, Hemant Mehta, Maryam Namazie, PZ Myers, Anu Muhammad, Ajoy Roy, Qayyum Chowdhury, Ramendu Majumdar and Muhammad Zafar Iqbal in publicly expressing their solidarity with the arrested bloggers.[38]

Murder

In 2015 Avijit went to Dhaka with his wife during the Ekushey Book Fair.[39] On the evening of 26 February, he and his wife were returning home from the fair by bicycle rickshaw.[4] At around 8:30 pm, they were attacked near the Teacher Student Center intersection of Dhaka University by unidentified assailants. Two assailants stopped and dragged them from the rickshaw to the pavement before striking them with machetes, according to witnesses.[40] Avijit was struck and stabbed with sharp weapons in the head. His wife was slashed on her shoulders and the fingers of her left hand were severed.[6] Both of them were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Avijit died at 10:30 pm. His wife survived. His daughter was in college in the United States at the time of his death.[41]

In a Twitter post on the day after his death, an Islamist outfit, named Ansar Bangla-7, claimed responsibility for the killing.[42] A case of murder was filed by Avijit's father without naming any suspects at Shahbagh thana on 27 February 2015.[43] According to police sources, they are investigating a local Islamist group that praised the killing.[44]

Avijit's body was placed at Aparajeyo Bangla in front of the Fine Arts building (Kala Bhavan) at Dhaka University on 1 March 2015 where people from all walks of life, including his friends, relatives, well-wishers, teachers and students, gathered with flowers to pay their respect to the writer.[45] As per Avijit's wish, his body was handed over to Dhaka Medical College for medical research.[46]

On 2 March 2015, Rapid Action Battalion arrested Farabi Shafiur Rahman, a radical Islamist. Farabi had threatened Roy several times before in blogs and social media sites including Facebook. Farabi said on different posts and comments that Roy would be killed upon his arrival in Dhaka.[47][48] Bangladesh government decided to take the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the murder of Roy. The decision was taken following an offer by the United States.[49]

Reactions

After the death of Avijit, students, teachers, bloggers and intellectuals around the country gathered at Dhaka University, demanding quick arrest of the killers.[50][51] The Mukto-Mona website bore the message in Bengali "We are grieving but we shall overcome" against a black background.[44]

Secretary-General of the United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric condemned the killing and said "On the attack of the blogger, we spoke to our human rights colleagues who obviously condemned the attack and expressed the hope that the perpetrators will be quickly brought to justice through the due process of law."[52]

The head of Reporters without Borders Asia-Pacific stated "We are shocked by this act of barbarity" and added "It is unacceptable for [police] to spend so much time searching news outlets, arresting journalists, censoring news and investigating bloggers, when the many attacks on bloggers are still unpunished."[53]

The Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg said: "Our sympathies are with the family of Avijit Roy. Roy was targeted simply for expressing his own beliefs and we are appalled by his death and condemn all such killings."[54]

The Asia Program Coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists stated "This attack is emblematic of the culture of impunity that pervades Bangladesh, where the lack of accountability in previous attacks on the press continues to spurn [sic] a deadly cycle of violence."[55]

The Center for Inquiry's chief UN representative stated "Avijit was brilliant, yes, and a devoted advocate of free expression and secularism, but also just a very good person."[56]

The British High Commissioner Robert Gibson expressed his concern in a tweet saying, "Shocked by the savage murder of Avijit Roy as I am by all the violence that has taken place in Bangladesh in recent months”[57]

Works

  • Samakamita (Homosexuality)
  • Alohate Chaliyachhe Andharer Jatri 2007 (about the origins of the universe)
  • Mohabisshe Praan O Buddhimottar Khoje, 2007, by Roy and Farid Ahmed
  • Obisshahser Dorshon (The Philosophy of Disbelief)[14]
  • Biswasher Virus (The Virus of Faith)[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ray Sanchez (1 March 2015). "Prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy killed". CNN. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  2. ^ Tribute to Avijit, Prothom Alo
  3. ^ a b Obituary: US-Bangladesh writer Avijit Roy BBC News 27 February 2015 Cite error: The named reference "bbc31664262" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c "American atheist blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh". The Guardian. 27 February 2015.
  5. ^ "Assailants hack to death writer Avijit Roy, wife injured". Dhaka: bdnews24.com. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Blogger Avijit hacked to death on DU campus". New Age. Dhaka. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  7. ^ "Avijit epitomises spirit of humanity". bdnews24.com. 28 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  8. ^ "Bangladeshis protest after atheist writer Avijit Roy hacked to death". The Guardian. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Engineers vehicles of civilization, militancy its enemy: Inu". Bangladesh Sangbad Shangstha. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  10. ^ Khan, Mozammel H. (28 February 2015). "A Shocking Crime". The Daily Star. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  11. ^ "Patents by Inventor Avijit Roy". Justia Patents. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  12. ^ Rishi Iyengar. "Bangladesh Authorities Arrest Suspect in American Blogger's Murder". Time Magazine. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  13. ^ Sam Matthew, Kieran Corcoran. "The moment American blogger's wife was left covered in blood next to her husband's mutilated body after he was hacked to death by Muslim militants for insulting Islam and 'in retaliation for U.S. strikes on ISIS'". Daily Mail. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  14. ^ a b c Lizzie Dearden (27 February 2015). "American-Bangladeshi atheist blogger Avijit Roy hacked to death by suspected Islamist extremists". The Independent.
  15. ^ http://www.telegraphindia.com/1150228/jsp/foreign/story_5950.jsp
  16. ^ a b c Avijit Roy (1 May 2013). "No Flag Large Enough to Cover the Shame – Guest Post from Dr. Avijit Roy". Center for Inquiry.
  17. ^ "Mukto-Mona moderators". Mukto-Mona. Archived from the original on 2 December 2011. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2 December 2012 suggested (help)
  18. ^ a b "Activist, blogger and DW Bobs nominee Avijit Roy killed in Dhaka". Deutsche Welle. 26 February 2015.
  19. ^ "Islam-kritischer Blogger ermordet". Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  20. ^ "Humayun Azad – A Truncated Life". Mukto-Mona.
  21. ^ "Avijit Roy Dead: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". heavy.com. 26 February 2015.
  22. ^ "Islamic death threats over books by Avijit Roy". The Free Thinker. 20 March 2014.
  23. ^ "Bangladesh online bookstore drops author after death threats". ucanews.com. 18 March 2014.
  24. ^ "Radical lslamists threaten Bangladeshi American Writer Avijit Roy". Policy Research Group Strategic Insight. 6 April 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  25. ^ "Hardline Muslims rally in Bangladesh amid shutdown". USA Today. Associated Press. 6 April 2013.
  26. ^ Farid Ahmed (8 April 2013). "Bangladesh Islamists rally for blasphemy law". CNN. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  27. ^ Staff correspondent (2 April 2013). "4 held over attempt to kill blogger". The Daily Star. Retrieved 27 February 2015. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  28. ^ "Bloggers on hit-list posted by supposed Islamist group in Bangladesh". 19 November 2014.
  29. ^ "Bangladesh gags award-winning blogger". Deutsche Welle. 25 May 2013.
  30. ^ "Blogger granted bail on health grounds". Reporters without Borders. 7 August 2013.
  31. ^ "Bangladesh: Crackdown on Bloggers, Editors Escalates". Human Rights Watch. 15 April 2013. "the government is abandoning any serious claim that it is committed to free speech," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch."
  32. ^ "Bangladesh: Further information: Detained editor alleges torture". Amnesty International. 17 April 2013. Blogger Asif Mohiudeen, arrested on 3 April for allegedly posting blasphemous comments online, remains in detention and at risk of torture
  33. ^ "Call for detained blogger's immediate release". Reporters without Borders. 11 April 2013. Reporters Without Borders condemns the baseless judicial proceedings brought against the detained blogger Asif Mohiuddin, who could be tried and convicted on a charge of blasphemy and "hurting religious sentiments" at his next hearing
  34. ^ "Attacks on the Press – Bangladesh". Committee to Protect Journalists. February 2014.
  35. ^ "Humanists appalled at the murder of secular activist and writer Avijit Roy". iheu.org. 26 February 2015.
  36. ^ "Atheists Rally Around Jailed Bangladeshi Bloggers". The Huffington Post. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  37. ^ Avijit Roy (8 May 2013). "The Struggle of Bangladeshi Bloggers". skeptic. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  38. ^ "The Struggle of Bangladeshi Bloggers". skeptic. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  39. ^ "Writer Avijit Roy hacked dead, wife hurt near TSC". The Daily Star. Dhaka. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  40. ^ "American atheist blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  41. ^ Avijit Roy slain
  42. ^ "Ansar Bangla-7 claims Avijit killing responsibility". Prothom Alo. 27 February 2015.
  43. ^ Ray Sanchez. "Prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy killed". CNN. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  44. ^ a b "US-Bangladesh blogger Avijit Roy hacked to death". BBC. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  45. ^ "Hacked American blogger Avijit Roy laid to rest in Bangladesh". The Times of India. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  46. ^ Monideepa Banerjie (1 March 2015). "Dhaka Pays Last Respects to Murdered Bangladeshi-American Blogger Avijit Roy". NDTV. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  47. ^ "Bangladesh Avijit Roy murder: Suspect arrested". BBC. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  48. ^ "Bangladesh authorities arrest man over atheist blogger's murder". The Guardian. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  49. ^ "FBI to help probe murder of US blogger Avijit Roy in Bangladesh". Times of India. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  50. ^ Manik, Julfikar Ali; Najar, Nida. "Avijit Roy, Bangladeshi-American Writer, Is Killed by Machete-Wielding Assailants". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  51. ^ "Immediate arrest of Avijit killers demanded".
  52. ^ "UN condemns Avijit killing". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  53. ^ "Call for effective protection after another blogger hacked to death". Reporters Without Borders. 27 February 2015.
  54. ^ "Index on Censorship condemns brutal murder of blogger Avijit Roy". 27 February 2015.
  55. ^ "Blogger hacked to death, another seriously injured in Bangladesh". Committee to Protect Journalists.
  56. ^ "Statement on the Murder of Dr. Avijit Roy, Bangladeshi Ally and Friend". Center for Inquiry. 26 February 2015.
  57. ^ "British high commissioner shocked by Avijit murder". bdnews24.com.

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