[Eugene Volokh] Atheist Arrested in Bangladesh — Atheism Might Be Banned in Egypt

Agence France Press reports: Bangladesh police arrested a 25-year-old social media activist [Asaduzzaman Noor, known as Asad Noor] as he tried to leave the country on charges that he defamed Islam and the Prophet Mohammed, authorities said Tuesday…. 'The charge against him is that he hurt religious feeling by mocking Prophet Mohammed and made bad comments against Islam, the prophet and the Koran on Facebook and YouTube,' [Inspector Mohammad Shahidullah] said. Noor apparently faces up to 14 years in prison from the government, and perhaps worse from others: Atheist bloggers in Bangladesh have recently been murdered by mobs. Also, according to Al-Bab.com (Brian Whitaker) and The Daily Independent (Nigeria), Egypt is set to make it a crime to be atheist in Egypt (not just to express atheist views in public, which is already punishable). If any of our readers can read Arabic, and can check the sources linked to by Al-Bab (here and here), I'd love to hear back…

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