Misplaced Pages

Avijit Roy

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by সত্য উন্মোচক (talk | contribs) at 04:04, 15 July 2022 (→Early life and education). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 04:04, 15 July 2022 by সত্য উন্মোচক (talk | contribs) (→Early life and education)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Bangladeshi engineer, blogger and writer

Avijit Roy
অভিজিৎ রায়
Born(1972-09-12)12 September 1972
Bangladesh
Died26 February 2015(2015-02-26) (aged 42)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Cause of deathAttack by terrorists
NationalityAmerican, Bangladeshi
EducationBSc in mechanical engineering; MSc and PhD in biomedical engineering
Alma materBUET (BSc)
National University of Singapore (MSc, PhD)
Occupation(s)Engineer, blogger, writer
Years active2001-2015
Known forBlogging in Bangladesh
Notable workHomosexuality
SpouseRafida Ahmed Bonya
ChildrenTrisha Ahmed
Parent(s)Ajoy Roy (father)
Shefali Roy (mother)
Websitehome.muktomona.com

Avijit Roy (Template:Lang-bn; 12 September 1972 – 26 February 2015) was a Bangladeshi-American engineer, online activist, homosexualist writer and blogger known for creating and administrating the Mukto-Mona, an Internet community for Bangladeshi freethinkers, rationalists, skeptics, atheists and humanists, which mainly targeted Muslims to be culminated. Roy was an advocate of free expression in Bangladesh, coordinating international protests against government censorship and imprisonment of atheist bloggers. During his lifetime he has authored many books & publication to defame religion, mostly Islam. Like other Bangladeshi aethiests he also took culmination of Islamic religion & lifestyle as a tool for his recognition among western society. However was hacked to death by some assailants in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 26 February 2015 Ansarullah Bangla Team claimed responsibility for the attack.

Early life and education

Avijit earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from BUET. He earned a master's and doctoral degree in biomedical engineering from National University of Singapore.

Career

In 2006, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and worked as a software engineer. Roy published eight books in Bengali, he wrote on behalf of explicit atheism, homosexuality, evolution and astrophysics and also he publicized these things in his own blog (known as Mukto-Mona).

Mukto-Mona

Roy was the founder of the Bangladeshi Mukto-Mona (freethinkers) website which was one of the nominees of The Bobs (Best of Blogs) Award in the Best of Online Activism category. Mukto-Mona began as a Yahoo group in May 2001, but became a website in 2002.

Roy described his writing as "taboo" in Bangladesh. He had received death threats from fundamentalist bloggers for his articles and books. Rokomari.com, a Bangladeshi e-commerce site, stopped selling Roy's books after its owner received death threats from Islamists.

Protests and advocacy

Our aim is to build a society which will not be bound by the dictates of arbitrary authority, comfortable superstition, stifling tradition, or suffocating orthodoxy but would rather be based on reason, compassion, humanity, equality and science.

— Avijit Roy

A Bangladeshi group, Blogger and Online Activist Network (BOAN), initiated the 2013 Shahbag protests that sought capital punishment for the Islamist leader and war criminal Abdul Quader Molla as well as the removal of Jamaat-e-Islami from politics. Islamist groups responded by organising protests calling for the execution of "atheist bloggers" accused of insulting Islam, and the introduction of a blasphemy law. Many atheist bloggers who supported the Shahbag protests came under attack, and Ahmed Rajib Haider was killed by Islamist groups on 15 February 2013. A month before the protest, blogger Asif Mohiuddin was attacked outside his house by four youths influenced by Anwar Al-Awlaki, and Sunnyur Rahman, known as Nastik Nobi ("Atheist Prophet"), was stabbed on 7 March 2013.

Asif Mohiuddin, a winner of the BOBs award for online activism, was on an Islamist hit list that also included the murdered sociology professor Shafiul Islam. Mohiuddin's blog was shut down by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, and he was jailed for posting "offensive comments about Islam and Mohammed." The secular government arrested several other bloggers and blocked about a dozen websites and blogs, as well as giving police protection to some bloggers.

International organisations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the imprisonment of bloggers and the climate of fear for journalists.

Avijit Roy wrote that he was disgusted that the Bangladeshi media portrayed young bloggers as "crooks in the public eye" and wrote to Western media outlets and the Center for Inquiry and the International Humanist and Ethical Union for support. Roy went on to coordinate international protests in Dhaka, New York City, Washington, D.C., London, Ottawa and other cities in support of the jailed bloggers. He was joined by writers, activists, and prominent secularists and intellectuals around the world including Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin, Hemant Mehta, Maryam Namazie, PZ Myers, Anu Muhammad, Ajoy Roy, Qayyum Chowdhury, Ramendu Majumdar and Muhammad Zafar Iqbal in publicly expressing their solidarity with the arrested bloggers.

Murder

In 2015, Roy went to Dhaka with his partner Bonya during the Ekushey Book Fair. On the evening of 26 February, he and Bonya were returning home from the fair by bicycle rickshaw. At around 8:30 pm, they were attacked near the Teacher-Student Centre intersection of Dhaka University by unidentified assailants. Two assailants stopped and dragged them from the rickshaw to the pavement before striking them with machetes, according to witnesses. Roy was struck and stabbed with sharp weapons in the head. His wife was slashed on her shoulders and the fingers of her left hand were severed. Both of them were rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where Roy was pronounced dead around 10:30 pm. Bonya survived. In an interview with BBC's Newshour, she said that police stood nearby when they were attacked on the spot but did not act.


Arrests

On 2 March 2015, Rapid Action Battalion arrested Farabi Shafiur Rahman. It was suspected by the police that Farabi had shared Roy's location, identity, family photographs, etc. with the killer(s). Farabi had threatened Roy several times through blogs and social media sites including Facebook. He said that Roy would be killed upon his arrival in Dhaka.

Legacy

In 2018, the Freedom From Religion Foundation introduced the annual Avijit Roy Courage Award, which is given to "individuals working toward the spread of rational and logical discourse, and recognize creative and heroic individuals who have persisted, despite hurdles, in their work to promote science, logic and humane ideas."

Works

See also

References

  1. "Father of slain blogger Avijit Roy appears in court to give testimony". bdnews24.com. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  2. "Obituary: US-Bangladesh writer Avijit Roy". BBC News. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  3. Cite error: The named reference cnn27Feb2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. শেষ শ্রদ্ধার পর অভিজিতের মরদেহ বাসায়. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Obituary: US-Bangladesh writer Avijit Roy". BBC News. 27 February 2015.
  6. ^ "American atheist blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 27 February 2015.
  7. "Ansar Bangla-7 claims Avijit killing responsibility". Prothom Alo. Transcom Group. 27 February 2015. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  8. "Assailants hack to death writer Avijit Roy, wife injured". bdnews24.com. Dhaka. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  9. "Avijit epitomises spirit of humanity". bdnews24.com. 28 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  10. "Bangladeshis protest after atheist writer Avijit Roy hacked to death". The Guardian. 27 February 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  11. "Engineers vehicles of civilization, militancy its enemy: Inu". Bangladesh Sangbad Shangstha. Archived from the original on 2 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  12. Khan, Mozammel H. (28 February 2015). "A Shocking Crime". The Daily Star (Op-Ed). Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  13. Rishi Iyengar. "Bangladesh Authorities Arrest Suspect in American Blogger's Murder". Time. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  14. ^ "Atheist Blogger Avijit Roy Returning Bangladesh Risky". The Guardian.
  15. ^ Avijit Roy (1 May 2013). "No Flag Large Enough to Cover the Shame". Center for Inquiry.
  16. "Mukto-Mona moderators". Mukto-Mona. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012.
  17. ^ "Activist, blogger and DW Bobs nominee Avijit Roy killed in Dhaka". Deutsche Welle. 26 February 2015.
  18. "Islam-kritischer Blogger ermordet". Tagesschau. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  19. Jahed Ahmed. "Avijit Roy and His Legacy". Center for Inquiry. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  20. ^ "Avijit Roy Dead: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". heavy.com. 26 February 2015.
  21. "Islamic death threats over books by Avijit Roy". The Free Thinker. 20 March 2014. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  22. "RAB arrests Farabi over Avijit murder". bdnews24.com. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  23. "Bangladesh online bookstore drops author after death threats". Union of Catholic Asian News. 18 March 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  24. "Radical lslamists [sic] threaten Bangladeshi American Writer Avijit Roy". Policy Research Group Strategic Insight. 6 April 2014. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  25. "Bangladesh's rising voices". Al Jazeera. 19 February 2013. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  26. "4 years since the Shahbagh movement". Dhaka Tribune. 5 February 2017.
  27. "Hardline Muslims rally in Bangladesh amid shutdown". USA Today. Associated Press. 6 April 2013.
  28. Farid Ahmed (8 April 2013). "Bangladesh Islamists rally for blasphemy law". CNN.
  29. "4 held over attempt to kill blogger". The Daily Star. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  30. "Blogger Saniur files case". bdnews24.com. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  31. "Bloggers on hit-list posted by supposed Islamist group in Bangladesh". Reporters Without Borders. 19 November 2014.
  32. "Bangladesh gags award-winning blogger". Deutsche Welle. 25 May 2013.
  33. "Blogger granted bail on health grounds". Reporters Without Borders. 7 August 2013.
  34. "Bangladesh: Crackdown on Bloggers, Editors Escalates". Human Rights Watch. 15 April 2013. 'the government is abandoning any serious claim that it is committed to free speech', said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
  35. "Bangladesh: Further information: Detained editor alleges torture". Amnesty International. 17 April 2013. Blogger Asif Mohiudeen, arrested on 3 April for allegedly posting blasphemous comments online, remains in detention and at risk of torture
  36. "Call for detained blogger's immediate release". Reporters Without Borders. 11 April 2013. Reporters Without Borders condemns the baseless judicial proceedings brought against the detained blogger Asif Mohiuddin, who could be tried and convicted on a charge of blasphemy and 'hurting religious sentiments' at his next hearing
  37. "Attacks on the Press – Bangladesh". Committee to Protect Journalists. February 2014.
  38. "Humanists appalled at the murder of secular activist and writer Avijit Roy". International Humanist and Ethical Union. 26 February 2015.
  39. "Atheists Rally Around Jailed Bangladeshi Bloggers". HuffPost. Religion News Service. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  40. ^ Avijit Roy (8 May 2013). "The Struggle of Bangladeshi Bloggers". Skeptic. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  41. "Writer Avijit Roy hacked dead, wife hurt near TSC". The Daily Star. Dhaka. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  42. Cite error: The named reference na26022015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  43. "Bangladesh Police Stood Close By, Didn't Act: Slain Blogger Avijit Roy's partner". HuffPost. Reuters. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  44. "Atheist blogger Avijit Roy 'was not just a person ... he was a movement'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  45. "Bangladesh Avijit Roy murder: Suspect arrested". BBC News. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  46. "Bangladesh authorities arrest man over atheist blogger's murder". The Guardian. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  47. "Avijit Roy Courage Award - Freedom From Religion Foundation". ffrf.org. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  48. Lizzie Dearden (27 February 2015). "American-Bangladeshi atheist blogger Avijit Roy hacked to death by suspected Islamist extremists". The Independent.
Categories:
Avijit Roy Add topic