Editor of Bangladesh\'s first LGBT magazine killed

২৬ শে এপ্রিল, ২০১৬ রাত ১২:০১

Xulhaz Mannan, left, was the editor of Bangladesh’s only LGBT magazine. Photograph: Facebook

he editor of Bangladesh’s only LGBT magazine has been killed in the latest of a series of horrific murders of bloggers and activists. Courtesy: Theguardian

Xulhaz Mannan was one of two people hacked to death in an attack in the capital, Dhaka, police said.

Mohammad Iqbal, the officer in charge of the local police station, confirmed to the Guardian that about six people entered the house in the Kalabagan district and hacked Mannan and his friend to death. Two other people were seriously injured.

Mannan, 35, was the editor of Roopbaan, the country’s only magazine for the LGBT community and who also worked at the US development agency USAID.


A security guard of the house told the Dhaka Tribune that five to six youths identifying themselves as courier company officials came to the house around 5pm.

He said: “But half an hour later, I heard shouting and shooting sound from the flat and went to look into the incident.”

“The assailants then attacked me with knives,” said the security guard.

Marcia Bernicat, the United States ambassador to Bangladesh, condemned the killing. “I am devastated by the brutal murder of Xulhaz Mannan and another young Bangladeshi,” she said.

“We abhor this senseless act of violence and urge the government of Bangladesh in the strongest terms to apprehend the criminals behind these murders,” she added.

Mannan had been behind an annual Rainbow Rally, which since 2014 has been held on 14 April Bengali New Year.
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Roopbaan was launched in 2014 to promote greater acceptance of LGBT communities in Bangladesh.

Reports of the latest death add to a series of horrific murders of bloggers and academics in the country. It comes two days after a Rezaul Karim Siddique, 58, an English professor, was hacked to death with machetes as he walked from his home to a bus station in the north-western city of Rajshahi.

Earlier this month, Nazimuddin Samad, 28, an atheist blogger was murdered near Jagannath University, where he was a law student.

Champa Patel, Amnesty International’s South Asia director, said: “There have been four deplorable killings so far this month alone. It is shocking that no one has been held to account for these horrific attacks and that almost no protection has been given to threatened members of civil society.

“Bangladeshi authorities have a legal responsibility to protect and respect the right to life. They must urgently focus their energies on protecting those who express their opinions bravely and without violence, and bringing the killers to justice. The authorities must strongly condemn these horrific attacks, something they have failed to do so far.”

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