Nazimuddin Samad, a law student and secular activist, was killed by three men armed with machetes in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka. This is the latest in a series of grisly attacks on intellectuals and bloggers who have written critically about militant Islam on social media.
Here’s The New York Times on the recent targeted violence:
In the last 18 months, there has been a rise in extremist violence in Bangladesh, including a series of assassinations of bloggers or intellectuals who have criticized militant Islam. Many writers and journalists have become hesitant to publish work that could attract the attention of Islamists, and a growing list of activists, fearing for their lives, have applied for asylum in Western countries.
No arrests have been made, but Samad had criticized religious extremism on his Facebook page. The Dhaka Tribune quoted police officials as saying the assailants shouted “Allahu Akbar” as they attacked the activist. Islam is Bangladesh’s state religion though the Constitution proclaims secularism as one of its main tenets.