Cops still clueless

The barbaric murder of Avijit Roy has brought to the fore a group called Ansar Bangla 7, which claimed responsibility for the killing on its Twitter page shortly after the attack.

Law enforcers could not confirm whether the group is a new one or an incarnation of terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team which detectives found linked with the murder of blogger Rajib Haider in 2013. 

It's possible they are actually the same group in different names, said a police official involved in the Avijit murder probe.

"There are some similarities between the two [Ansar Bangla 7 and Ansarullah Bangla Team] regarding how the victims were threatened and attacked. In addition, both the groups target bloggers," added the officer, on condition of anonymity.

"Without further investigation, we cannot say anything for sure."

Avijit, 42-year-old writer and blogger, was hacked to death and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya critically injured near TSC on Dhaka University campus on Thursday night.

His father Prof Ajoy Roy filed a murder case the following day with Shahbagh Police Station accusing unknown assailants.

Police are still clueless over the murder that has created outcry at home and abroad.  

Bloggers suspect there might be a link between Ansar Bangla 7 and Ansarullah Bangla Team, which operates through websites, blogs and publications to instigate attacks on secular and progressive people terming them "enemies of Islam". 

Ansarullah's spiritual leader Shaikhul Hadith Mufti Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmani, who was arrested in August 2013 in the Rajib murder case, had identified a number of columnists, writers and bloggers as "atheists and non-believers who must be killed". 

Jasimuddin and six members of the group are now behind bars in connection with the killing of Rajib.

"It's hard to tell what this group Ansar Bangla 7 exactly is. But they have members who operate online and identify who should be targeted for their opinions," said Baki Billah, a blogger and activist.

And they were on holiday too on Thursday, visiting the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela when assailants attacked them with machetes near TSC. Avijit lies motionless on the pavement in a pool of blood while Bonya, soaked in his and her own blood, asks people for help. Photo: Banglar Chokh

Then there is Ansar al Islam, a group that claimed responsibility for the murder of Professor Shafiul Islam of Rajshahi University on the Facebook community page "Bangladesh 2" on November 15. He was targeted reportedly for his unconventional views about spirituality and religion.

At the time, there were speculations as to whether Ansar al Islam was actually an offshoot of the Ansarullah Bangla Team. The matter is still under investigation. 

Contacted, DB officials said they were unable to confirm if, and in what way, the groups are connected.

Meanwhile, family members of Avijit said his body will be kept at the Aparajeyo Bangla premises this morning before handing it over to either Dhaka Medical College Hospital or Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

He had a wish that his body be donated for medical research and education.

SWALLOWING THREATS

Bloggers receiving threats from anonymous sources was nothing new, said online activists. But it took an alarming turn following the February 2013 launch of Gonojagoron Mancha, a platform spearheading the Shahbagh movement demanding capital punishment to war criminals.

Bloggers and online activists were at the forefront of the movement.

"I have learnt to swallow threats," said another blogger seeking anonymity, adding that they seldom received feedback after informing law enforcers about the threats.

Even their families are often terrorised by unnamed callers.

Hours after the hacking of Avijit, an unknown person called on the cell phone of Ajoy Roy early Friday.

"Tell him [Prof Roy] that he will be punished just like his son," the person told a relative, who received the call.

It was the second call in 10 minutes.

Prof Roy received the first call which was made minutes after he returned from hospital after seeing his son's body.

"Look what has happened to your son," Prof Roy quoted the caller as saying.

Prof Roy contacted Shahbagh and Ramna police and gave them the mobile phone number. He was preparing to file a general diary with Ramna Police Station in this connection.

Avijit himself had been threatened multiple times by a self-proclaimed Islamist blogger, Farabi Shafiur Rahman.

On January 25 last year, Farabi's Facebook status read, "It's a holy duty of Bangalee Muslims to kill Avijit."

Then on February 9 last year, he commented on a Facebook post: "Avijit Roy cannot be killed now. He lives in America."

Farabi, who according to his Facebook profile studied physics at Chittagong University, had been arrested for his social media comments supporting the murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, also an activist of Shahbagh movement.

He was later released on bail.

This year, in a Facebook post dated February 4, he expressed sympathy for the six Ansarullah members arrested in connection with Rajib's murder.

According to the post, he visited the Kashimpur jail to meet Ansarullah leader Jasimuddin, but the jail authorities denied him permission as he didn't have a copy of his national ID and a picture of himself.