Nonbelievers in Bangladesh beware: the government likely has its eye on you.
Bangladesh has widened a crackdown on allegedly blasphemous blogs after a threat by Islamists to march to the capital demanding the prosecution of atheist bloggers, an official said Wednesday.
The telecommunications regulator ordered two leading Internet sites to remove hundreds of posts by seven bloggers whose writings it said offended Muslims, according to its assistant director Rahman Khan.
All this because some people felt the blogs were “blasphemous.” So, they’re tearing down blogs, staging protests, and demanding prosecution. One anti-Islam blogger was murdered.
So, the government has blocked a dozen websites, erased posts, and “snoop for blasphemy” in social media.
Blogger Asif Mohiuddin said 120 of his posts had been erased from Somewhereinblog.net. “The government is targeting the bloggers to appease the Islamists”, Mohiuddin, who identifies himself as a militant atheist, told AFP.
Mohiuddin, who was critically injured in a machete attack by suspected Islamists in January, said he was interrogated by detectives this week about his writings.
“It’s a serious attack on freedom of speech,” he said.
Indeed.
