The editor of LGBT magazine Roopbaa has been “hacked” to death according to reports.
Julhas (Xulhaz)Mannan, a senior editor of Bangladesh’s only LGBT magazine, Roopbaa has been hacked to death according to media reports.
Police said that one other person alongside Mr. Mannan was also killed when attackers entered an apartment in Dharka. The other victim has been named as his friend Tanay Mojumdar.
Mr. Mannan also worked at the US embassy.
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Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune a security guard said that “five to six” young people identifying themselves as couriers said they had a parcel for Mr. Mannan.
The security guard 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,”
Although no one or any group has claimed responsibility for the killing it happened just two days after suspected Islamic militants hacked a university teacher to death with a machete. Earlier this year a law student was also hacked to death after expressing secular views online.
Last year four bloggers were also slain with machetes. They had all appeared on a list of 84 “atheist bloggers” which was widely circulated to Islamic groups – the BBC reports.
The BBC’s Bengali Service editor Sabir Mustafa said staff at Roopbaan, had “been careful to protect their identities but had not believed their lives were at risk.”
The magazine which launched in January 2014 had not been condemned by the government and had received support from foreign embassies. Mr. Mannan said that the magazine’s main goal was to “promote love”.
Homosexuality is illegal in Bangladesh and the country has no legal protections for LGBT people.
