Mick Hartley

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has made a few enemies:

In 1993, sparked by a series of newspaper columns in which she was critical of the treatment of women under Islam, Islamic fundamentalists pronounced a fatwa against her and offered a bounty for her death.

The government banned her book Lajja, (a Bangla word meaning shame), which drew attention to the torture of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. Again there were calls for her death and her passport was confiscated by the government.

In 1994, organised groups identified with religious fundamentalists demanded her execution by hanging after she was quoted in The Statesman stating that “…the Koran should be revised thoroughly.” The government of the day, whilst not taking action against those who had issued threats, filed a court case against Nasrin charging her with hurting the religious feelings of people and an arrest warrant was issued. Although she anticipated that she may have faced a jail term of up to two years, Nasrin felt it was very likely that she would have been murdered in jail; she went into hiding. After two months she was granted bail and left the country.

And now:

An Indian Muslim group has offered a 500,000 rupee (11,319 dollar) bounty for the beheading of controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen.

The president of the All India Ibtehad Council said on Friday he had declared the reward for anyone who carried out the “quatal” or ”extermination” of the “notorious woman.”

“Taslima has put Muslims to shame in her writing. She should be killed and beheaded and anyone who does this will get a reward from the council,” Taqi Raza Khan said in a statement received in the northern city of Lucknow. […]

There was no immediate comment from Nasreen who has lived in self-exile in Europe and the United States, but has lately been living in India.

Nasreen has been spending most of her time in Kolkata, state capital of the eastern state of West Bengal which shares the same language and much of the culture of Bangladesh.

But she has also faced problems in India. In 2004, an Indian Muslim cleric offered a reward of 20,000 rupees to anyone who ”blackened” her face, an action considered a grave insult.

They really don’t like women with minds of their own, do they?