Another horrifying attack on the Freedom of Speech has taken the life of a man threatened over his “insulting” Islam by advocating for atheism and secularism. <br />More from USA TODAY: <br /> <br /> A prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger known for speaking out against religious extremism was hacked to death as he walked through Bangladesh’s capital with his wife, police said Friday. <br /> <br />The attack Thursday night on Avijit Roy, a Bangladesh-born U.S. citizen, occurred on a crowded sidewalk as he and his wife, Rafida Ahmed, were returning from a book fair at Dhaka University. Ahmed, who is also a blogger, was seriously injured. It was the latest in a series of attacks on secular writers in Bangladesh in recent years. <br /> <br />A previously unknown militant group, Ansar Bangla 7, claimed responsibility for the attack, Assistant Police Commissioner S.M. Shibly Noman told the Prothom Alo newspaper. <br /> <br />Roy “was the target because of his crime against Islam,” the group said on Twitter. <br /> <br />Roy was a prominent voice against religious intolerance, and his family and friends say he had been threatened for his writings. <br /> <br />About 8:45 p.m. Thursday, a group of men ambushed the couple as they walked toward a roadside tea stall, with at least two of the attackers hitting them with meat cleavers, police Chief Sirajul Islam said. The attackers then ran away, disappearing into the crowds. <br /> <br />Two blood-stained cleavers were found after the attack, he said. <br /> <br />Several hundred people joined a rally Friday near the site of the attack carrying banners reading, “We want justice” and “Down with fundamentalism.”
