On Tuesday, a secular blogger in Bangladesh was killed by men carrying machetes, the third blogger to be murdered in the country this year.
Ananta Bijoy Das, 32, was on his way to work in the city of Sylhet when the attack took place, CNN reports. Das wrote for Mukto-Mona ("Free Thinkers"), a blog started by Bangladeshi-American Avijit Roy, who was killed in February in Dhaka. Mukto-Mona discusses secular topics and features debates focusing on atheism, Islam, and science.
After the attack on another blogger, Washiqur Rahman, earlier this year, NPR spoke with Zafar Sobhan, the editor of the English-language Dhaka Tribune. Sobhan said that the bloggers were "respectful in their critiques," and did not go out of their way to offend people. "They did not critique Islam solely," he said. "They were critical of all organized religions. So it was Islam, Hinduism, Christianity. They have been accused of insulting and abusive language, but I have found no evidence of this."
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