Activist groups say that Islamist hit squads have lists with the bloggers’ real names and addresses. Bangladesh is officially a secular country, but more than 90% of its 160 million people are Muslim. Niloy Chakrabarti was an atheist “free thinker,” as described by another blogger. “The price for holding opinions and expressing them freely must not be death. The Bangladeshi authorities now have an urgent duty to make clear that no more attacks like this will be tolerated,” said David Griffiths, the rights group’s South Asia research director. He also asked that “all those responsible are brought to justice in fair trials without recourse to the death penalty.” The Amnesty International has urged Bangladesh to take stern action to stop killings of freethinkers.
