Avijit Roy

Avijit Roy was a prominent atheist, writer, and blogger who advocated for a secular (instead of Islamic) government in Bangladesh while he was alive. He held dual US-Bangaldesh citizenship. He was an advocate for ending strict blasphemy laws in Bangladesh that have been used to imprison bloggers critical of Islam.[1] As part of the Shahbag movement he advocated for the death penalty for Islamist war criminal Abdul Quader Molla and registration of Jamaat-e-Islami as a terrorist group instead of a political party. He was assassinated on 26 February 2015 by machete-wielding Ansar Bangla-7, an Islamist group suspected to be a cover for Ansarullah Bangla Team. Ansarullah Bangla Team is an Islamist terrorist group in Bangladesh that claims responsibility for the machete murders of many atheist bloggers in Bangladesh.[2]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ France-Presse, Agence. "American atheist blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh", The Guardian, 2015-02-27. (en-GB)
2. ↑ "US-Bangladesh blogger Avijit Roy hacked to death", BBC News, 2015-02-27. (en-GB)