Avijit Roy

Avijit Roy (Bengali: অভিজিৎ রায়; 12 September 1972 – 26 February 2015) was a Bangladeshi-American engineer, writer, blogger and secular activist. He was killed by machete-wielding people in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 26 February 2015.[1] A Muslim extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack. [2]

Avjit Roy was a U.S. citizen. He was born in Bangladesh.[3] His family is Hindu. He studied microbiology at Dhaka University. His father Ajoy was a professor of physics at the university. Avjit Roy moved to the city of Atlanta in the United States. He had a job there as an engineer.[4]

Activism

In May 2001, Roy started Mukto-Mona, meaning "free mind", as a Yahoo group. In 2002 Mukto-Muno became a website. Mukto-Muno started the first Bengali Darwin Day, Rationalist Day, and International Women's Day on the internet. The group worked for freedom for religious minorities and secular writers. The group discussed religious questions and LGBT issues.[5]

Avjit Roy wrote many articles, as well as books. In 2014, Roy received death threats after he wrote a book. One threat on Facebook said, "Avijit Roy lives in America and so it is not possible to kill him right now, but he will be murdered when he gets back."[6]

In 2015, Avijit Roy returned to Dhaka and was killed after leaving a book fair with his wife. Roy's wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, was also hurt in the attack. [7] On March 2, 2016, Farabi Shafiur Rahman was arrested for the attack. Farabi wrote on Facebook, “Avijit lives in America. It is not possible to kill him now. But he will be killed when he will be back in the country.”[8] Rahman is a blogger from the banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.[9] Sheikh Ahmadullah claimed that, it is not logical to punnish someone like Farabi imprisonment for giving threat without proving that he is related to the assassination, and Farabi gave threat to Avijit because Avijit mocked Muhammad's wife Mary the Copt in extreme slang language.[10]

Selected writings

Other websites

  • Profile on Mukto-Mona[11]
  • "Avijit Roy and His Legacy", Jahed Ahmed, Free Inquiry, vol 35 issue 4, May 19, 2015 [5]
  • "Obituary: US-Bangladesh writer Avijit Roy", BBC News, 27 February 2015 [4]

References

  1. ↑ "Assailants hack to death writer Avijit Roy, wife injured". Dhaka: bdnews24.com. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "Ansar Bangla-7 claims Avijit killing responsibility". Archived from the original on 2015-02-27. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  3. ↑ Hammadi, Saad (12 May 2015). "Third atheist blogger killed in Bangladesh knife attack" – via The Guardian.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Obituary: US-Bangladesh writer Avijit Roy - BBC News".
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Avijit Roy and His Legacy".
  6. ↑ "Obituary: US-Bangladesh writer Avijit Roy - BBC News".
  7. ↑ "Widow of blogger Avijit Roy defiant after Bangladesh attack - BBC News".
  8. ↑ Manik, Julfikar Ali; Najar, Nida (2 March 2015). "Bangladeshi Police Arrest Suspect in Blogger's Killing".
  9. ↑ "Atheist blogger Avijit Roy knew returning to Bangladesh was risky -- but still went". Raw Story. 7 March 2015.
  10. ↑ "শফিউর রহমান ফারাবি ভাইয়ের মুক্তির দাবি • Shaikh Ahmadullah waz 2021• Deen Network". As Sunnah Foundation. 21 February 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  11. ↑ "Mukto-Mona Writers' Corner - Avijit Roy". Archived from the original on 2016-07-04. Retrieved 2016-08-09.