Members of Bangladesh Police Detective Branch escort a man, center, whom they have identified as Shariful Islam Shihab, a former member of the banned Islamic group Harkatul Jihad as they walk him in front of the media in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday. Several members of the team were convicted past year over the 2013 murder of atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.
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Police claim suspect is a member of a local militant group that has targeted secular and atheist bloggers..
The suspect, Shariful Islam, was arrested from Kushtia district earlier on Sunday, said Dhaka Metro Police Deputy Commissioner Maruf Hossain Sardar.
Xulhaz was a Political Process Analyst at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and also the editor of “Roopbaan”, the country’s only known magazine for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.
He went on to add that the two activists were murdered on the orders of the ABT leadership.
A number of secularist writers, bloggers and publishers in Bangladesh were killed or seriously injured in attacks perpetrated by Islamist extremists since 2013.
“The Sheikh Hasina government needs to take an unequivocal stance on issues such as secular thought or gay rights, and ensure that those behind these attacks are properly prosecuted”, said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
The two slain activists, Xulhaz Mannan and Tanay Mojumdar had come out publicly to raise awareness and encourage others to do the same.
Washington condemned the killings of Mr Tonoy and Mr Mannan, who worked for U.S. government aid organisation USAID.
There have been systematic assaults in Bangladesh in recent weeks especially targeting minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.
Rezaul Karim Siddique, 58, an English professor at Rajshahi University, was hacked to death with machetes as he walked to work in Bangladesh last month.
On April 30, a Hindu tailor was also hacked to death by machete-wielding ISIS militants in his shop.
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But Bangladesh police chiefs have said that their murders bear the hallmarks of local Islamists.
