Dangerous business of blogging in Bangladesh
View(s):Blogging is not only big business and a strong channel in the media but also attracts the dangers normally associated with traditional media – print, radio or television. There was ample proof of this when three Bangladeshi bloggers, all living in exile, came together at the “Blogging – a high risk endeavour” session in one of the conference ‘breakout’ rooms. Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury, Publisher of murdered Bangladeshi blogger Avijit Roy and now living in exile in Norway, Shammi Haque now living in Germany and Ananya Azad, granted asylum in Germany, shared their lives of threats, danger and assaults in Bangladesh which they claimed has transformed into a “Political Islam” state.
Mr. Haque, who suffers from memory loss and speech after being brutally assaulted, said political extremism is active with a huge increase in religious TV programmes. “Due to political Islamic activities, progressive student politics has disappeared. Fundamentalists have been able to form an Islamic government. Blogging created an opportunity to people to express themselves. Debates took place on blogs when many argued against Islamist zealots,” one of the bloggers said. When the fundamentalists realized they were losing ground with the country’s youth population, they declared war on bloggers and online commentators.
For the last three years, atheist writers, freethinkers, foreigners, religious minorities, gay rights activists and others have been terrorized and killed in Bangladesh by shadowy figures who struck with machetes and sped off on motorbikes, according to a June 8 New York Times report titled “Bangladesh says it now knows who’s killing the bloggers”. The report said that at least 39 people have been killed in attacks with machetes, guns and bombs since February 2013. The killings, mostly with machete blows to the back of the victim’s neck, have been accelerating lately, with five people murdered in April, four in May and at least three so far in June.
The attacks have included raids on the offices of bloggers, destruction of property and assaults. “We lived in extreme fear in those times,” said Mr. Haque, speaking slowly while acknowledging that he was sometimes unable to move his fingers due to beatings. Bangladesh is passing through a difficult period. It looks a peaceful country but bloggers and free-thinkers are killed. Some live like wanderers and in desperation, look for tourist visas to escape to a neighbouring country. In fact, kind policemen will tell victims to leave the country saying free thinking persons will have a problem,” he said adding that the government turns a blind eye to the killings.