--- description: Farabi Shafiur Rahman, described as a religious fundamentalist, was taken in custody by Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion title: Suspect Held in Atheist Blogger's Murder image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a0c65cdd2586ee2/698781a2e20a87191aa855a9/bangladesh-avjit-roy-murder.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Bangladesh](/tag/bangladesh/) ## Bangladesh Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Bangladesh Authorities Arrest Suspect in American Blogger's Murder by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 2, 2015 9:27 AM CUT  Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion personnel produce Farabi Shafiur Rahman (C), arrested over the machete murder of an atheist American blogger, during a photocall in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 2, 2015. Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion personnel produce Farabi Shafiur Rahman (C), arrested over the machete murder of an atheist American blogger, during a photocall in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 2, 2015.Munir Uz Zaman—AFP/Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 2, 2015 9:27 AM CUT Bangladeshi authorities have [arrested a primary suspect](http://news.yahoo.com/bangladesh-arrests-chief-suspect-us-blogger-murder-075556227.html;%5Fylt=AwrTWVWrHfRUlgUAbQrQtDMD "undefined") in the murder of atheist blogger Avijit Roy. Farabi Shafiur Rahman was taken into custody by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, Agence France-Presse reported. He allegedly threatened the victim on social media and spoke to another individual online about killing him. A spokesman for the RAB — the country’s elite security force that mainly counters religious insurgency — described Rahman as a “fundamentalist blogger.” A source within the agency claimed that its officials had seen messages between Rahman and another person discussing Roy’s murder. Roy, a Bangladeshi American living in Atlanta for the past 15 years, founded the Mukto-Mona blog — a collection of liberal writings that drew the ire of many hard-liners in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. The 42-year-old writer was assaulted by two unidentified attackers while returning from a book fair with his wife in Dhaka last week. The assailants [hacked him to death](http://time.com/3725527/atheist-writer-killed-bangladesh-avijit-roy-mukto-mona/ "undefined") with machetes. His wife survived but was grievously injured. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3728029/bangladesh-blogger-avijit-roy-murder-suspect-arrested/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3728029/bangladesh-blogger-avijit-roy-murder-suspect-arrested/"},"headline":"Bangladesh Authorities Arrest Suspect in American Blogger's Murder","datePublished":"2015-03-02T09:27:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:49:39.946Z","description":"Avijit Roy was hacked to death in Dhaka last week","url":"https://time.com/3728029/bangladesh-blogger-avijit-roy-murder-suspect-arrested/","keywords":["Bangladesh","Murder","dhaka","blogger"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a0c65cdd2586ee2/698781a2e20a87191aa855a9/bangladesh-avjit-roy-murder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a0c65cdd2586ee2/698781a2e20a87191aa855a9/bangladesh-avjit-roy-murder.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BANGLADESH-UNREST-RELIGION","caption":"BANGLADESH-UNREST-RELIGION","creditText":"Munir Uz Zaman—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/bangladesh/","name":"Bangladesh"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3728029/bangladesh-blogger-avijit-roy-murder-suspect-arrested/","name":"Bangladesh Authorities Arrest Suspect in American Blogger's Murder"}}]}] ```