Bangladeshi publisher gets death threats

A secular publisher in Bangladesh today said he received death threats, a day after a publisher was killed while two bloggers and another publisher were injured in attacks claimed by al-Qaeda in the Indian sub-continent.

Somoy Prakashan owner Farid Ahmed said he received threats on his mobile phone through SMS.

"You have published several books written by atheists. You have committed enough sins. Get ready for your death," the SMS sent by a group named Al-Ahrar said.

The publisher is yet to file a complaint with police, Daily Star reported.

Ahmed, however, said the officer-in-charge of Sutrapur Police Station has called him after hearing the matter. Police also visited his office at Sutrapur.

The threat came a day after Faisal Arefin Dipan, 43, a publisher who worked with slain atheist writer and blogger Avijit Roy, was hacked to death yesterday in his third-floor office in central Dhaka.

The killing of Dipan came just hours after unidentified assailants attacked two secular writers and another publisher of US national Roy's books Ahmedur Rshid Tutul, leaving one of them in a critically injured.

Six writers and bloggers have been hacked to death in the past two and half years, five of them since January this year with families and friends of the deceased alleging failure on the part of police in bringing perpetrators to justice.