DHAKA: Bangladesh widened a crackdown on allegedly blasphemous blogs after a threat by Islamists to march to the capital demanding the prosecution of atheist bloggers, an official said yesterday.
The telecommunications regulator ordered two leading Internet sites to remove hundreds of posts by seven bloggers whose writings it said offended Muslims, according to its Assistant Director Rahman Khan. “These two sites — Somewhereinblog.net and Amarblog.com — have removed most of the posts.”
Khan said the regulator was scrutinising other sites to identify and erase “blasphemous blogs” to ensure religious harmony in the mainly Muslim nation.
The move comes after Islamic groups and clerics, who have staged deadly protests against atheist bloggers in recent weeks, threatened to march to Dhaka on April 6 unless the bloggers are prosecuted.
AFP
