AFP
Dhaka
Bangladesh police yesterday filed criminal cases against two Islamic students and two others for the machete murder of a blogger accused of mocking Islam, the second such attack in recent weeks.
Washiqur Rahman was hacked to death near his home on Monday morning in Dhaka, less than two months after the murder of an American atheist blogger triggered international outrage.
Police Inspector Mohammad Salahuddin said three knife-wielding attackers killed the 27-year-old because they believed he had “defamed Islam” in the mainly Muslim country through writings on social
media.  
Police lodged preliminary murder charges against two students of madrassas who were arrested at the scene, along with the third who fled and is still on the run, another officer said.
An alleged planner of the attack was also charged and is now under investigation after the students named him during police questioning, said deputy commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker.
“A case was filed against the four people accusing them of the murder of the blogger,” Sarker said.
Officially secular Bangladesh has seen a rise in Islamism in recent years.
One of the two arrested had been studying at a top madrassa in the port city of Chittagong, headed by hardline Islamist group
Hefazat-e-Islam.
The group was behind massive protests against secular bloggers in 2013 that left nearly 50 people dead. Police launched a crackdown at the time on thousands of hardliners who poured into Dhaka demanding the execution of bloggers.
Monday’s killing bears strong similarities to the murder of Avijit Roy, an American blogger of Bangladeshi origin who was hacked to death with machetes in Dhaka in February.
His death sparked uproar, with hundreds of secular activists holding protests for days to demand justice.
The two arrested for the latest murder were brought under heavy security on Tuesday before a judge who remanded them in custody for eight days for further police questioning.
One of the arrested told local reporters on Monday that they killed Rahman because he mocked “Allah and the Prophet”.
“It was our religious duty to kill him. We’ve killed him because it will ensure heaven,” he said, according to the mass-circulated Bengali daily Kaler Kantho.
Bloggers and other writers along with secular activists held a rally and candlelight vigil against the murder late on Monday at Dhaka University, the country’s secular bastion.
The European Union, Bangladesh’s main trade partner, condemned the “vile aggression” while rights groups called the murder a “wake up call” for Bangladeshi authorities.
“The killing of Washiqur Rahman today is another clear example of the Bangladeshi government’s utter failure to ensure the safety of those at risk,” said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International’s Bangladesh researcher.
“How many more bloggers will have to be attacked before action is taken?”
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s secular government has faced criticism for failing to do enough to protect humanist writers.
Rahman wrote a 52-episode series for an anti-religion satirical site called Dhormockery.com, according to the London-based, International Humanist and Ethical Union.
The pieces mock aspects of Islam, and fellow bloggers said Rahman did not believe in any organised religion. He also posted articles on Facebook and blogged under a pseudonym.