Dhaka, Bangladesh – Back on April 7, a young man was killed for criticizing extremist Islam on his Facebook page and other online platforms, now Xulhaz Mannan, a gay rights activist, and editor or the first and only LGBT magazine in Bangladesh, was hacked to death in Dhaka by a gang posing as couriers in order to gain access to his apartment in the Kalabagan area of the city.

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US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat has urged Bangladesh government in the “strongest terms” to apprehend the criminals behind the murder of her colleague Xulhaz Mannan. Credit: bdnews24

Actually, the so-called Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for this, but the Bangladeshi government insists there is no IS presence in the country, but when the attackers chopped a security guard, Parvez Mollah, at the gate and left the scene, they chanted Allah Hu Akbar (the God is great).

Officer Rezaul Islam, quoting witnesses, said that at least five assailants came in disguise of a courier service to deliver a parcel. After that, they attacked Mannan and his friend Danny Majumder, with a machete leaving them dead at the scene. They also attacked policemen patrolling on the road and escaped the scene, according to a witness.

US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat said, “I am devastated by the brutal murder of Xulhaz Mannan and another young Bangladeshi”. Also, the Ambassador stated that she hate that senseless act of violence and the Government of Bangladesh has to urge in the strongest terms to apprehend the criminals behind these murders.

Their killings were likely to spread fear among Bangladesh’s gay community

Homosexuality is illegal in Bangladesh and it remains a highly sensitive issue in society in that country. Both men were openly gay and believed that if more gay Bangladeshis came out then the country would have to accept them. Their killings were likely to spread fear among Bangladesh’s gay community, so it seems that it wasn’t a way to encourage Bangladesh’s gay community at all to come out.

Also, Mannan and Majumder were behind the annual “Rainbow Rally”, that is held on Bengali New Year, on 14 April, since 2014. This year’s rally was banned by the police as part of widespread security measures.

Chasing the media?

Nazimuddin Samad was a student and secular writer, a 27-year-old who was attending law school in the evenings at Jagannath University. He was brutally killed for criticizing extremist Islam on his Facebook page and other online platforms back on April 7.

Even when Samad identified himself as a man with no religion on his Facebook profile page, the Islamist extremists involved in the Samad slaying remain at large, where they intercepted the writer as he was walking along a road on Wednesday evening with his classmate in Old Dhaka around 9.45 p.m.

Also, as on Mannan’s case, the suspects also chanted “Allah uh Akbar” as they attacked Samad.

Source: The Guardian