A blatant attack on artistic freedom: Bengali writer, Taslima Nasreen assaulted by mob led by Indian legislators

Born on 25 August 1962 in Mymensingh, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Nasreen is a physician-turned-author with an international reputation as a feminist and human rights activist. A Muslim by birth, she has been repeatedly harassed and threatened by Islamist groups for her writings.

Initially gaining popular attention as a poet and columnist, agitating for equal rights for women, Nasreen has twenty-eight works of poetry, essays, novels (most importantly, Lajja, or “Shame”), and short stories to her credit, all written in her native language, Bengali. Her work has been translated into twenty different languages and is internationally acclaimed, as attested by her winning a number of prestigious literary and human rights awards.

The MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi justified the attack against Nasreen, telling the press that, “We are not bothered about our Member of Legislative Assembly status. We are Muslims first. And it is our responsibility to test those who have said anything against Islam in which every way possible. We are proud of our members as Taslima Nasreen needs the harshest punishment for her writings against Islam. The next time she comes to Hyderabad, we will implement the fatwa of death against her.”