Taslima Nasrin

When The Penalty For Free Inquiry Is Death

[Introduction] [Latest News] [Letters Of Support]

The world-famous secular humanist writer and feminist Taslima Nasrin has escaped the threat of hanging by Muslim fundamentalists in her native Bangladesh. Nasrin secretly escaped from Bangladesh to refuge in Sweden on Sunday, January 23.

In 1994 Muslim militants had issued a fatwa - a Muslim religious judgement - demanding the execution of Nasrin for her criticism of Islam. The Bangladeshi government at that time had also issued a warrant for Nasrin's arrest on the grounds of alleged blasphemy. The controversial poet and journalist eventually escaped Bangladesh in 1994. But Nasrin, returned to Bangladesh in September 1998 to take care of her dying mother.

A campaign of demonstrations against Nasrin and renewed calls for her murder forced her once again into hiding. The Council for Secular Humanism mounted an international campaign to ensure the safety of Dr. Nasrin, a Senior Editor of Free Inquiry magazine, collecting letters of support from some of the world's leading intellectuals. The Council also maintained this web site with news about Taslima's plight, and information on how to support her. Nasrin was able to access the web site from her hiding place in Bangladesh.

Nasrin's mother died of cancer on January 11, 1999. On January 23, following death threats made over the phone to her hiding place, Nasrin caught a British Airways flight to Sweden. On January 24 she phoned Warren Allen Smith - who had coordinated the secular humanist campaign in her defense - to tell him she was now safe. Nasrin had the assistance of the European Union's ambassador in escaping from Bangladesh, she said. She told Smith, "I had no other alternative but to leave. Yes, I was able to see the home page with news from time to time, but I did not see it when I returned to Dhaka. It is very comforting to know that so many have been concerned about me."