Attacked Ex-Bangladeshi Atheist Blogger Sharif Ahmed Speaks Out

[rug]

Wednesday, April 24, 2013
by CFI Canada

Ex-Bangladeshi Blogger Sharif Ahmed suffered attack, torture, religious psychological training and was eventually nearly hung to death because of his atheism. He escaped to Canada as a refuge fearing for his life. He joins Justin Trottier for an exclusive interview on Think Again! TV to discuss his story and the plight of atheists in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has recently been at the center of a human rights crisis as authorities have detained several prominent bloggers for "hurting religious sentiments," followed by the arrest of a newspaper editor who printed quotations from the targeted bloggers, and two more young people for making "derogatory remarks" about Islam on Facebook. Tens of thousands of people have rallied in the country's capital to demand more arrests, tougher blasphemy laws, and have threatened violence if their demands are not met by April 25.

An international coalition of atheist and humanist organizations, led by the Center for Inquiry and our partners the International Humanist and Ethical Union and American Atheists, will protest the arrest and persecution of atheist bloggers and other dissenters in Bangladesh with demonstrations in New York, Washington, London, Ottawa, and other cities around the world on Thursday, April 25.

These global demonstrations will be unprecedented for the freethought movement, as secularists around the world express their solidarity with those jailed for speaking their minds about religion. Protesters will draw the world's attention to the plight of those persecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of belief and expression, and attempt to spur the international community to take action and compel the government of Bangladesh to change course. Up-to-date information on protest events can be found at bit.ly/defenddissent.

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[LostOne4Ever]

1. I wish

I wish this story was getting more attention in the media

Thanks for putting it up!

[rug]

2. It's really egregious.

[Phillip McCleod]

3. thx rug for the ongoing updates on this.

'egregious' is a good word for it. sadly, these days it seems less compelling, what with the image of blood in the streets and the constant barrage of mass killings lately.

i've been worried about self-fulfillment of apocalyptic fantasies since i was old enough to think for myself about religion.. iow about 32 years now. what's stopping religious communities from subconsciously playing this psychodrama out to the bitter end? jihadists like al qaeda are up the islamic apocalypse's ass with a red-hot poker. then you've got the nuts who drown their own children or blast whole families with shot-guns because they got pushed over the edge from religious fervor to hyper-religious psychosis. it happens. it's happening more and more and now murderers have the tools to make their terror stick.

it's making everyone sick.

expect more atheists.

[rug]

6. This is quite serious.

Believe it or not, I view this from a Marxist perspective. Whovever is driving the economic power structure there is driving this, using whatever ideology is at hand, whether it's religion, racism or nationalism.

[Phillip McCleod]

7. it's definitely the ugly beginning of something new, i fear.. which was gonna happen eventually

..namely the targeting of atheists as scapegoats. the internet has provided a way for us to form an international community that does kind of 'transcend' (ick) the usual class stratification. atheist bloggers wouldn't be a convenient scapegoat if there weren't some atheist bloggers in bangladesh conveniently handy to blame.

[rug]

8. It's clearly scapegoating.

Don't forget this started when people demanded war criminals stand trial. Bingo! Blasphemy!

[skepticscott]

4. So are you going to argue again

that this is all about politics and has nothing to do with hurting the feewings of religious believers to the point where they feel justified in calling for people's deaths?

[rug]

5. If you think politics are not at the root of this, with an overlay of religion, you are as captive

of your antitheism as the demonstrators are of their theism.

Go on, play your little internet snark games, then log off.

Meanwhile, bodies are piling up, the ruling clsses are playing us all for fools, not least of which will be you with your juvenile comments about "feewings".

[dimbear]

9. My Bangladeshi friends, reconsider your priorities. First master rebar, then turn to

theological niceties. I don't know whether the Koran has a parable similar to 'the house built on sand,' but you see the point. Rebar. It holds buildings together.

Same lesson goes out to our friends in so tectonic Turkey. Rebar.