—
Dhaka: U.S. criticizes religious extremism A Bangladeshi court has sentenced five local religious extremists to death for killing a blogger.
Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi, is a U.S. citizen. He was convicted of killing a citizen six years ago.
The violence erupted when Avijit Roy, who was attending a book conference in Dhaka in February 2015, was returning home with his wife. Rafida Ahmed, his wife and fellow blogger, suffered a head injury and lost a finger. The allegations against the accused were fully substantiated.
One of the perpetrators was sentenced by a court to life imprisonment. Five others have now been sentenced to death. All six are members of the Ansarullah Bangla team linked to Al Qaeda. They were involved in more than a dozen murders, including this one.
During 2013-16, they carried out a number of attacks targeting bloggers, activists and religious minorities.
Violence against minorities has intensified in Bangladesh in recent times, following Pakistan. The Bangladeshi government may be more vigilant in taking action in such cases than in Pakistan.
Click here to receive the East Coast Daily News Telegram
–
–
–
