“No spawn of atheist is welcome in this pure lands maintained by Allah”.
These are the words of plaintiff Habibur Rahman, active mebre of the Hefazat-E-Islami, who this past 12th of February became the latest religiously conscious person to file a blasphemy lawsuit against what he refers to as the “enemies of Islam”.
The lawsuit filed with the Dhaka Judicial Magistrate Court-1, Amoli court, in accordance with Bangladesh Penal Code 295, accuses over 2 dozen individuals of allegedly writing and publishing crude, unfounded, blasphemous content against religion. Particularly Islam.
According to sources within the courts a magazine called ‘Atheist in Bangladesh’ and its contributors have been accused of publishing lewd and derogatory content against Islam, by Mr Rahman.
However in a slight twist, Mr Rahman names one Mr Mr Yeaz Kawsar as the primary accused. A blogger and activist by profession and a contributor to the above-named magazine of course, if his name sounds familiar it is because Mr Kawsar is one of the individuals named in the global hit list, published by the nefarious militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team of Bangladesh. Not only that, Mr Kawsar reportedly also faces several previous allegations of being derogatory and blasphemous towards religion.
Some of the other noteworthy names accused in this lawsuit are – editor of the magazine Mr Arifur Rahman who is the editor of this magazine, publisher for the magazine ‘Secular publishers’, Md Abdullah Al Hasan, Kazi Md Saiful Haque, Ashef Abrar Titu, Hussain Mohammad Parvez, Riana Trina, Miltan Kumar Dey, Tamzid Hossain, Abu Taher Md Mustafa, Siddikur Rahman, Sharmin Khan, Kazi Mohammad Abu Bokkor Siddiki, Pinaki Deb Opu, Opurbo Kumar Rai, Hosni Mubarak, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Ishtiak Hossain, Md. Tofayel Hossain, Adnan Sakib, Roosevelt Haldar, Abu Hanif, Syed Mohammad Shojib Abed, Md Mehedi Hossain, Syed Sunvy Anick Hossain, Enayetul Huda, Naymul Islam etc.
Back to the lawsuit now and Mr Habibur Rahman claims that ‘Atheist in Bangladesh’ had been publishing unsavoury content against Islam and other religions for quite some now, and that he felt it was his duty to go to such lengths, in order to “preserve the integrity of Bangladesh as a Muslim majority nation”.
Bemoaning the lack of initiative taken by the government and its affiliates against the likes of ‘Athiest in Bangladesh’ and likeminded writers, bloggers, contributors, Mr habibur Rahman states, “This ‘Atheist in Bangladesh’ is an enemy of Islam. Their writers and contributors have insulted and berated Islam as they see fit and have had no opposition from the likes of the government or the Foreign Ministry”. Mr Habibur Rahman also claimed that the government needs to overhaul its current legal system and “redesign it with at least 98% of Shariyah rules and regulations”.
Meanwhile aside from being greeted with yet another blasphemy lawsuit incident the capital was also the subject of a few hours on unrest, courtesy of members of the Hefazat-E-Islami. On the day the lawsuit was filed, Hefazat members surrounded the court premises and protested against ‘Atheist in Bangladesh’ and its contributors. The group, reportedly later left the promises and morphed into a mass protest rally before marching towards Gulistan. They were heard shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ throughout the whole incident. There are also a smattering reports of violence against the Hefazat members of that protest rally as well, as quite of rickshaws and buses were found demolished across Gulistan and surrounding areas. No reports of any casualties though, thus far.
