The threats, intimidation and murder of atheists in Bangladesh continue, and now Islamists are demanding the state give them a hand with the killing.

Islamists are calling for the death penalty for atheist bloggers for supposedly blasphemous blogs or else face the prospect of Islamist groups descending on the capital, Dhaka. The state’s response? A shut down of blogs, the ordered deletion of posts and the establishment of an intelligence panel looking to censor future material deemed to have “defamed Islam and the Prophet Mohammed”. Meanwhile “progressives” defend the accused, not by demanding their freedom of conscience and expression, but by pretending they are not atheists at all.

Shame on the Bangladeshi government for siding with the far-right Islamists and shame on the “progressives” who apologise for the free thought of others.

The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain stands in solidarity with atheists and rationalists who stand for reason, universal human rights and secularism and calls on the public to defend their freedom of expression and rights to life and security.

Hands off atheist bloggers now!