Ansarullah Bangla Team have published a hit list of bloggers around the world, in addition to the bloggers they have been murdering in Bangladesh. Bloggers around the world have named on a hit-list by an Islamist group in Bangladesh. Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), who put out the list of names slated for murder, is the group behind the murders of a string of secularist and rationalist bloggers over the past 18 months. The group targets thinkers who are critical of Islam and spread secularist and humanist ideas. Bangladesh is a 90% Muslim country and has seen Islamist extremism increase in recent years. Those on the list however are not just Bangladeshi citizens but bloggers and activists from around the world. The Guardian records the list as including "nine bloggers based in the UK, seven in Germany, two in the US, one in Canada and one in Sweden." It is unknown whether ABT has the resources to carry out the murders. They may simply be hoping that supporters worldwide will carry out the murders on their behalf. ABT has been working its way through a list of 84 bloggers in Bangladesh which was published in 2014. At the beginning of August blogger Niloy Neel became the fourth blogger to be murdered this year. Neel was from a Hindu rather than Muslim background, but was attacked because of his writings in favor of secularism and rationalism. In the beginning of March Dr Avijit Roy, an American Bangladeshi blogger, was hacked to death in the middle of the street while visiting a book fair at Dhaka University. Although hundreds of people were nearby, police did not assist Dr. Roy or his wife, who was badly injured in the assault. His wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, is on the newly published hit-list. At the end of March secular blogger Washiqur Rahman was murdered just 500 yards from his house. In May Ananta Bijoy Das was set upon and murdered while on his way to work in the city of Sylhet. Shortly before his murder he was denied asylum in Sweden. Those on the international list are taking the threats extremely seriously. "I can't say that I am fully safe, as the fundamentalists know where I am residing," listed blogger Ananya Azad told the Guardian. I can't say what will happen in future, but I can give you this assurance that I will write until the end of my life." Clarion Project interviewed blogger Monir Hussein, a close friend of the late Ananta Bijoy Das, who is on the run from the Islamists. He is believed to have successfully escaped Bangladesh since the interview. Like every blogger on the list, he is living in constant fear of death. Islamists everywhere are waging a war against free speech and free thought. In the UK this week an anti-sharia campaigner and an art exhibit about the Islamic State were both cancelled by authorities. Ansarullah Bangla Team are simply waging this war in the most literal way possible.
