SECOND EDITION
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2015
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Shraban 24, 1422, Shawwal 22, 1436
LISTED ACTIVISTS KILLED ONE AFTER ANOTHER PAGE 3
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Regd No DA 6238, Vol 3, No 114
MUFTI IZHAR HELD AFTER TWO YEARS IN HIDING PAGE 5
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www.dhakatribune.com | 32 pages | Price: Tk10
MINISTER TO PUSH FOR RMG BANK PAGE 32
Fourth blogger killed since February Jamil Khan and n Mohammad Kamrul Islam Secular blogger and war crimes trial campaigner Niladri Chatterjee was hacked to death by four unidentified assailants at his Goran residence in Dhaka yesterday. Also known as Niloy Neel on blogging platforms and Facebook, the youth aged around 30 was killed with machetes around 1:30pm. Niloy, who worked at an NGO, had rented the flat on the fourth floor of a building in the area two years back, identifying himself as a Muslim named Niloy Chowdhury. He used to stay with his wife Ashamoni and sister-in-law. Recently he was trying to leave the country out of fear as three secularist activists had been killed by the militants since February. He also received threats several times. A group named Ansar Al Islam, believed to be banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team, has claimed responsibility for the murder. In an email sent to the media in the afternoon, they said that Niloy had been killed for his blasphemous activities, and warned others of similar consequences for demeaning the Almighty and the Prophet. Ansar Al Islam said they were the Bangladesh branch of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), which in May claimed responsibilities for the murder of several secularist activists since February 2013. On his Facebook account and a blogging platform named Ishtishon, Niloy used to write against militant activities, war criminals and Jamaat-e-Islami; on women and children rights, and other social issues. He completed master’s in philosophy from Dhaka University two years ago. A member of Bangladesh Rationalists’ Society, he was also vocal against the killing of bloggers. Niloy’s friends said that he was critic of all religions. But no case was filed against him
for hurting the religious sentiment of any religion. His wife Ashamoni said that one of the assailants, aged around 22 and wearing a T-shirt and jeans, first entered the flat saying that he would rent it and that the house-owner had asked him to see the condition. She found it suspicious as she saw the stranger trying something with his mobile phone. She told Niloy to ask the person to leave the flat. Niloy then told the stranger to talk to the landlord. But three men entered the flat all of a sudden and one of them forcefully held Ashamoni and her sister in the balcony at gunpoint. Ashamoni said: “Then a bearded man aged around 30-35 began chopping Niloy indiscriminately in the bedroom chanting ‘Naraye Takbir, Allahu Akbar.’ Two of his accomplices also hacked Niloy at that time. The killers left the scene within five minutes chanting the same. “I screamed from the balcony for help but no one came forward.” While leaving the building, the killers wiped their machetes with a piece of cloth on
Police turned Niloy away n Tribune Report
After twice being given the run around by policemen at two separate police stations who refused to take down his general diary, Niladri Chatterjee, who feared for his safety, was instead told by a police officer to “leave the country as soon as possible.” Officers at both Khilgaon and Shahjahanpur police stations claimed that Niladri’s concerns did not fall within their jurisdictions as they sent him back and forth between the stations, with one officer explaining off the record that police were unwilling to register such diaries because the recording officer would be held responsible for the safety of the complainant. The murdered blogger ultimately failed to
get any law enforcement official to take down his general diary, despite having strong fears that he was being followed. In a Facebook post on May 15 this year, Niladri Chatterjee said that he had been followed by two youths just two days before, while returning home after attending a protest programme demanding justice for the murder of blogger Ananta Bijoy Das. “I was followed by two persons … they got on the same public bus with me. One of them even boarded the human haulier I was in. I was able to recognise him but thought that it was a coincidence. “But later I saw that the person was sending text messages from his mobile phone PAGE 2 COLUMN 3
Wife of blogger Niladri Chatterjee wails in grief after the murder of her husband by four machetewielding assailants in their Goran apartment yesterday MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU the ground floor, and then put those in the two bags they were carrying, a neighbour told the Dhaka Tribune. Morgue sources said that Niloy died on the spot and that there were at least 20 marks of injuries on his body.
Ashamoni was enraged seeing many people at the flat after the killing. She demanded arrest of the killers. “When will the government take strict measures to try the blogger killers?” she said.
No progress in last three blogger murder cases n Tribune Report While the radical Islamic groups continue hacking one blogger to death after another, the law enforcers have yet to make any significant progress in solving the cases, not being able to trace the killers or the masterminds behind the killings. The latest murder in the series took place yesterday, when secular blogger Niladri Chatterjee, also known as Niloy Neel, was killed at his Goran residence in the capital by some unidentified assailants.
Before Niloy, the last blogger murder took place three months ago. Then, science writer Ananta Bijoy Das was hacked to death on May 12 in Sylhet’s Subidbazar area. A murder case was filed with the police after the murder, and due to the case’s sensitive nature, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) took over the investigation on May 25. However, the only progress in the case was the arrest of a photojournalist named Idris Ali on June 7. He is now in jail after seven days of PAGE 2 COLUMN 1