Professor Anisuzzaman threatened with death in a text message

Professor Anisuzzaman has received death threat in an SMS.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 10 Nov 2015, 04:23 PM
Updated : 10 Nov 2015, 04:57 PM

He filed a complaint at Gulshan Police Station on seeing the text message on Tuesday afternoon.

Gulshan Police Station OC Md Sirajul Islam said police were trying to track those who sent the message.

The professor emeritus of Bangla literature at the Dhaka University told bdnews24.com the SMS was sent at 4:30pm and he opened it an hour later.

“It asked in proper English why I support bloggers and if I wanted to die on being struck by machete,” he said.

Before he spoke to bdnews24.com of the threat, writers, cultural activists and journalists issued a statement urging the government to arrest the murderers of writers, and a publisher.

They also criticised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her suggestion to be alert while writing about religion.

Prof Anisuzzaman, who writes on secular issues, was one of the signatories to the statement.

A publisher was hacked to death on Nov 1. Earlier this year, four bloggers were murdered.

Machetes were used in all these attacks. Police suspect militants are behind these murders.

In the statement, Professor Anisuzzaman and others said religious militants were carrying out these attacks to stop freethinking.