Bangladeshi Author Attacked, Then Arrested

The case of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin took a court-related turn, and as the Guardian’s Richard Lea reports, everything just got a whole lot more complicated. Last week, the outspoken writer known for challenging the Bangladeshi government on its Muslim-leaning ways – and its oppression of women – was attacked at the Hyderabad Press Club in India by three local politicians (MLAs) from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) during her latest book launch. The three attackers have been arrested – but so, too has Nasrin, now facing two years in jail if found guilty on a charge of inciting religious tensions, launched by local police at the weekend.

To which we wonder: how is this going to help, exactly? Punish the author for speaking out? But with local elections due early next year, the issue is fast becoming a political flash-point, with the MIM widely expected to use a fatwa against Nasrin as a tool to mobilize the muslim vote.

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