Mukto-Mona is a Bengali language blog for secularists, atheists, and freethinkers. It was founded by

Avijit Roy Avijit Roy ( bn, অভিজিৎ রায়; 12 September 1972 – 26 February 2015) was a Bangladeshi-American engineer, online activist, writer and blogger known for creating and administrating the '' Mukto-Mona'', an Internet community ...

who was subsequently killed by militants in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

, Bangladesh. The attackers are believed to be members of

Ansarullah Bangla Team The Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), also called Ansar Bangla is a terrorist organization in Bangladesh, implicated in crimes including some brutal attacks and murders of atheist bloggers from 2013 to 2015 and a bank heist in April 2015. The gang was ...

History

Mukto-Mona, meaning freethinkers in Bengali, was founded by Bangladeshi-American secular blogger

, who was based in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, United States. He created a Yahoo group titled Mukto-Mona 26 May 2001 which he made into a website next year. He was killed in February 2015 in Dhaka, Bangladesh by militants. His wife, Rafida Ahmed Bonya was injured in the attack. Bonya took over the management of the blog after the death of her husband. The blog was awarded The Bobs – Best of Online Activism award by

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

in June 2015. A number of atheist bloggers associated with Muto-Mona have been targeted and killed by

Islamists Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is c ...

in Bangladesh.

References

{{reflist, 2 Bangladeshi news websites American news websites