'I had to leave everything behind': Life on an Islamic militant kill list
Tuesday 26 April 2016 2:16PM
Violent attacks in Bangladesh have seen bloggers, professors, and activists slain by Islamist extremist groups. When militants threatened he would be next to die, Raihan Abir sought sanctuary in Canada. He tells RN Breakfast why he still holds out hope for his country.
For a while, Raihan Abir was working in the Bangladeshi healthcare system. Some two thirds of Bangladesh's population—over 100 million people—live in rural areas, and Abir was concerned about their access to medical services. Then in 2011, he worked on a book that changed his life forever. It was called The Philosophy of Disbelief.
The book's purpose, according to its promotional blurb, was to inspire Bengali readers to imagine a society 'free from blind belief and religious fundamentalism'.
Four years later, Abir's co-author is dead—hacked to death with a machete—and Abir is living in sanctuary in Canada after receiving death threats from Islamist groups.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/life-on-islamic-militant-kill-list-raihan-abir/7358854
9:03 audio at link.
