Blogger Bonya wins 'The Bobs - Best of Online Activism 2015' award

Blogger Rafida Ahmed Bonya, wife of slain writer-blogger Avijit Roy, has won Deutsche Welle’s ‘The Bobs – Best of Online Activism 2015’.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 3 May 2015, 11:19 AM
Updated : 3 May 2015, 03:19 PM

Jury members announced the winners of the 11th annual competition at The Bobs- Best of Online Activism on Saturday. The winners of the three main awards came from Bangladesh, Syria and Mexico.

“The jury honoured the work of Rafida Bonya Ahmed, who was brutally assaulted in a February 2015 attack that claimed the life of her husband, Avijit Roy,” reads a statement by Deutsche Welle.

“Despite the serious injuries she suffered, Ahmed has refused to be silenced by the religious fundamentalists behind her husband's murder,” it says.

The awards will be given at the Global Media Forum, which will be held in June this year in Germany’s Bonn.

Bonya, one of the founders of Bengali blog ‘Muktomona’ (the free-thinkers), won award in the social change category.

Bonya and her husband were attacked on Feb 26 at the heart of the Dhaka University campus.

Assailants hacked the couple with meat cleavers leaving her husband killed and Bonya seriously injured. She had lost a thumb in the attack.

The award for Arts and Media category went to "Zaytoun, the little refugee."

The project puts people in the shoes of Zaytoun, a Syrian-Palestinian refugee caught in the middle of the Syrian civil war.

The award in Privacy and Security category went to Rancho Electronico, a Mexican volunteer group that helps people understand the ins-and-outs of digital technology and how to protect their privacy.