Mukto-Mona ( ) is a Bengali language blog for secularists, atheists, and

freethinkers Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an unorthodox attitude or belief. A freethinker holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or ...

. It was founded by

Avijit Roy Avijit Roy (; 12 September 1972 – 26 February 2015) was a Bangladeshi-American engineer, online activist, writer, and blogger known for creating and administrating the Mukto-Mona, an Internet blogging community for Bangladeshi freethinkers, ...

who was subsequently killed by militants in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

, Bangladesh. The attackers are believed to be members of

Ansarullah Bangla Team The Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) (), also known as Ansar-al Islam Bangladesh or Ansar Bangla is a militant organization in Bangladesh, implicated in many terrorist activities including attacks and murders of atheist bloggers from 2013 to 2015. B ...

History

Mukto-Mona, meaning freethinkers in Bengali, was founded by Bangladeshi-American secular blogger

, who was based in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, United States. He created a Yahoo group titled Mukto-Mona 26 May 2001 which he made into a website next year. The blog gained controversy when

Shah Ahmad Shafi Shah Ahmad Shafi (; 5 April 1930 – 18 September 2020) was a Bangladeshi Sunni Islamic scholar, the chief of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, Rector of Al-Jamiatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam Hathazari and also the chairman of Bangladesh Qawmi Madr ...

, in an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

, accused it of hosting allegedly anti-Islamic content and called on the government to take action. Avijit was killed in February 2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh by militants. His wife, Rafida Ahmed Bonya was injured in the attack. Bonya took over the management of the blog after the death of her husband. The blog was awarded The Bobs – Best of Online Activism award by

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

in June 2015. A number of atheist bloggers associated with Muto-Mona have been targeted and killed by

Islamists Islamism is a range of Religion, religious and Politics, political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is su ...

in Bangladesh.

References

{{reflist, 2 Bengali-language websites

History

See also

References