Washiqur Rahman, 27, was an atheist known in Bangladeshi social media circles for writing articles denouncing religious extremism.
“He was a progressive free thinker and was against religious fundamentalism,” Imran Sarker, head of Blogger and Online Activists Network in Bangladesh, told AFP news agency.
Police have arrested two men in connection to the murder so far.
“He was brutally hacked to death this morning with big knives just 500 yards from his home at Dhaka’s Begunbari area,” local police chief Wahidul Islam told AFP.
Last month Avijit Roy, an American atheist blogger from Bangladeshi origin, was also brutally killed.
Munir Uz Zaman / Getty Images
In the wake of Roy’s murder, hundreds of protesters took to the streets to demand justice.
Bangladesh is a predominantly Muslim country, but its government describes itself as secular.
Rahman’s murder is the third of its kind in the last two years, and the fourth time a secular writer has been attacked in Bangladesh since 2004.
