Bangladesh’s first gay magazine editor was brutally murdered on Monday along with a friend in his flat here by suspected Islamists, in the latest audacious attack on high-profile bloggers and intellectuals in the Muslim-majority country.
Julhash Mannan, the editor of ‘Roopban’ - the only magazine in Bangladesh advocating gay rights - and his friend Tanay Fahim were killed by armed assailants who entered the flat impersonating as courier company officials, Deputy commissioner of Ramna division police Abdul Baten said.
Mannan, 35, a cousin of former foreign minister Dipu Moni and ex-protocol officer of the US embassy, was known for his gay rights activism.
Tanay, the other victim, was also a LGBT activist.
“Three persons came this evening and claimed they had a courier for Mannan. When I went up and told him (Mannan) this, he said that he was not expecting any such parcel,” said Parvez Mollah, a security guard of the building in Kalabagan.
“As I came down and told them this, they insisted that I allow them to meet him (Mannan),” Mollah said. When the guard objected, they stabbed him leaving him injured in the left eye and left arm.