| Bangladesh protest |
(Scroll down for video) The lives of atheist bloggers in Bangladesh is now on the line after a huge crowd of thousands of Muslims demanded their death by hanging, according to video uploaded to the internet.
Hundreds of thousands of Islamists rallied in Dhaka after a night "long march" to the Bangladeshi capital, demanding the execution of atheist bloggers for defaming Islam.
This was just the latest of a series of protest in Bangladesh, deepening tensions between secularists and the largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, whose leaders are on trial for crimes committed during the 1971 war of independence of the country.
Islamists gathered in the main commercial center of Dhaka to protest what they say are blasphemous atheists.
Police said 100,000 people attended the rally at which protesters shouted "God is great, hang atheist bloggers".
Protest organizers, who called for the "long march", with many traveling from remote villages, put the number at over half a million, as Dhaka Motijheel commercial area became a sea of white robes.
"I came here to fight for Islam. Bloggers will not be allowed to blaspheme our religion and our beloved Prophet Mohammad," Shahidul Islam, an imam at a mosque outside Dhaka who walked 20 kilometers or 13 miles said.
Hefajat-e-Islam, an Islamist group that has the support of tens of thousands of seminars, organized the demonstration in support of their demand for 13 points, including the enactment of a blasphemy law to prosecute and hang atheist bloggers.
This week, four online writers were arrested on charges of hurting religious sentiments through their writings on the Internet against Islam.
“I now fear for my life here in Bangladesh, just because I am not a Muslim. I think I will have to leave this country very soon,” Patricia Walker, 29, of Dhaka, Bangladesh told YourJewishNews.com.
The government has established a task force, which includes intelligence chiefs to control the blasphemy on social networks.
Under the country's cyber laws, blogger or Internet writer could face up to ten years in prison for defaming a religion.Mobile video not loading? Click here to view