2013 Bengali blog blackout

From the beginning of the Shahbag protest, bloggers came out on the streets to demand capital punishment of Abdul Quader Molla, a war criminal of the Bangladesh liberation war and a leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. During the protests, a controversial author, pro-Shahbag blogger and online activist Sunnyur Rahman, popularly known as 'Nastik Nobi' (Atheist Prophet) in the blog community, was stabbed on 7 March 2013.{{cite news |title=Blogger Saniur files case |work=banglanews24.com |url=http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/03/07/another-blogger-stabbed-at-pallabi |date=7 March 2013 |access-date=18 June 2013}} Another pro-Shahbag blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider who was critical of Jamaat-e-Islami, was killed by a few Jamaat activists.{{cite news |title=Shahbagh blogger killed in Pallabi |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=44790 |access-date=15 February 2013 |newspaper=The Daily Star |date=15 February 2013}}{{cite news |title=Shahbagh protest to go relentless |url=http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/02/15/shahbagh-protest-to-go-relentless |access-date=15 February 2013 |newspaper=bdnews24.com |date=15 February 2013 |archive-date=15 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215191255/http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/02/15/shahbagh-protest-to-go-relentless |url-status=dead}} Afterwards, a Jamaat backed Islamic fundamentalist organisation started a violent protest demanding the death penalty for all allegedly "anti-Islamic" bloggers, and they termed all participants of the Shahbag movement as atheist.{{cite news |title=Hardline Muslims rally in Bangladesh amid shutdown |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/04/06/hardline-muslims-rally-bangladesh/2058851/ |work=USA Today |agency=Associated Press |date=6 April 2013}} The spokesperson of the Shahbag movement Imran H. Sharkar said, Hifazat-e-Islam is desperate to thwart the war crimes trial and the process of banning Jamaat-e-Islami.{{cite news |title=Hifazat out to save Jamaat, says Imran |url=http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/04/06/hifazat-out-to-save-jamaat-says-imran |access-date=9 April 2013 |newspaper=bdnews24.com |date=4 April 2013}}

Afterwards, the government of Bangladesh started monitoring the blogosphere and sent letters to the Bengali blog authorities to terminate the alleged "anti-religious" blogs and to provide information about the alleged "anti-religious" bloggers.{{cite news |title=100,000 Bangladeshi Protestors Rallied To Demand The Execution of Atheist Bloggers |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/protestors-demanding-execution-of-atheist-bloggers-2013-4 |access-date=9 April 2013 |date=6 April 2013}}

On the night of 1 April 2013, three bloggers were arrested by the detective branch (DB) police. Blogger Rasel Pervez, a prominent physicist and blogger and Mashiur Rahman Biplob were arrested on 1 April 2013 from their house. Subrata Adhikari Shuvo, who is a masters student of the Bengali department at the University of Dhaka, was also arrested on the same day from his university dormitory.{{cite news |title=Four Bangladeshi bloggers arrested for "blasphemous" posts |url=http://www.ifex.org/bangladesh/2013/04/04/bloggers_arrested/ |access-date=7 April 2013 |newspaper=ifex |date=4 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409205959/http://ifex.org/bangladesh/2013/04/04/bloggers_arrested/ |archive-date=9 April 2013 |url-status=dead}}

Another blogger Asif Mohiuddin was called to the police station on 3 April 2013, and when he went there, he was arrested.{{cite news |title=Blogger Asif arrested |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/blogger-asif-arrested/ |access-date=7 April 2013 |newspaper=The Daily Star |date=4 April 2013}} Earlier, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission forced the Bengali blog somewhereinblog.net to remove all writings{{cite news |title=God, Almighty only in name but impotent in reality (Blog title; transl.) |author=Asif Mohiuddin |work=somewhereinblog.net |url=http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/realAsifM}}

present blog page reads: "blog has been withdrawn or cancelled for violating terms and conditions" (transl.) of Asif Mohiuddin.{{cite news |date=25 March 2013 |title=Bangladesh gags award-winning blogger |url=http://www.dw.de/bangladesh-gags-award-winning-blogger/a-16697713 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |access-date=7 April 2013}} The move was criticized by Human Rights Watch,{{cite news |title=Bangladesh: Crackdown on Bloggers, Editors Escalates |work=Human Rights Watch |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/15/bangladesh-crackdown-bloggers-editors-escalates |date=15 April 2013}}

"the government is abandoning any serious claim that it is committed to free speech," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Amnesty International, Center for Inquiry, Reporters Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalists, and several other bodies.{{cite journal |last=Roy |first=Avijit |date=8 May 2013 |title=The Struggle of Bangladeshi Bloggers |url=http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/13-05-08/#feature |journal=Skeptic |access-date=6 June 2013}}

• Avijit Roy
• Worldwide Protests for Free Expression in Bangladesh

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Category:Internet-related activism

Category:Internet-based and online protests

Category:Internet censorship

Category:April 2013 in Bangladesh

Category:2013 protests