A British man has been arrested over the killings of two atheist bloggers who had been critical of Islamic extremism.
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Last week police arrested two other suspected members of Ansarullah Bangla Team over the killing of atheist blogger Niloy Neel.
Police described Touhidur Rahman as the “main planner” in the killings of Avijit Roy and Ananta Bijoy Das, who died earlier this year.
“He told us that he is a British citizen”, Mufti Mahmood, the head of the RAB’s legal and media division, said, adding that the three would be paraded before the press later.
The Bangladesh government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been criticized for failing to adequately protect secular bloggers and activists, but Tuesday’s arrests may provide hope that those responsible will be prosecuted.
Ananta Bijoy Das was killed in a similar fashion a few months later.
“The other two Ansarullah members arrested today are Sadek Ali and Aminul Mollick”.
In February, machete-wielding assailants killed a U.S. citizen of Bangladeshi origin and critic of religious militancy, Avijit Roy, and seriously injured his wife and fellow blogger, Rafida Bonya Ahmed.
There were protests by students and teachers in central Dhaka in the wake of Dr Roy’s death with many demanding the police act to find his killers.
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Bangladesh is an officially secular country, but more than 90 per cent of its 160 million people are Muslim.
