Bangladesh Arrests Three Men in Connection With Murder of Secular Blogger

Police in Bangladesh arrested three people on Wednesday in connection with the murder of a blogger in August, charging them with various crimes related to the incident.

The three men are suspected of being involved in the attack on Niladri “Niloy” Chatterjee, who was hacked to death with machetes in the country’s capital city Dhaka, Al Jazeera reported.

“One of the suspects was held for threatening Niloy on Facebook,” police said in a statement, adding that the other two admitted responsibility through a proxy profile on the social media site.

The Bangladesh government also blocked Internet-based services like Facebook, Whatsapp, Messenger and Viber, partially in fear of a backlash after two opposition leaders convicted of war crimes were sentenced to death on Wednesday, according to the BBC.

Bangladesh has grappled with rising Islamic extremism over the past year, with several bloggers and publishers being killed as well as multiple foreign nationals — including an Italian priest shot and wounded on Wednesday — being targeted.

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