Murder of Anti-Religion and Anti-Islam Student with a Machete in Bangladesh

In the ongoing attacks against secularists and opponents of religion in Bangladesh, a Bangladeshi student who was anti-religion and anti-Islam, and had published posts against Islam on his Facebook page, was murdered with a machete. According to a report from the French news agency citing the police, this student, named Nazimuddin Samad, 26 years old, was killed on the evening of Wednesday, April 18, near Dhaka University, the capital of the country, by several unidentified motorcyclists. The police stated that the attackers first beheaded the 26-year-old student and then shot him in the head from close range. Nazimuddin Samad was known for his participation in protests against Islamist leaders and his anti-religious and anti-Islamic views. No group has yet claimed responsibility for his murder, but he is the sixth secular and anti-religious activist to be killed in Bangladesh in the past 15 months. About a thousand students gathered in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, demanding the identification of Mr. Samad's killers. Bangladesh, with a population of 170 million, of which 90 percent are Muslim, is one of the most populous Islamic countries in the world. Bangladesh is also facing the activities of radical Islamist groups.