Suspected Islamist militant arrested for murder of Bangladesh gay rights activists

Xulhaz Mannan and fellow activist Mahbub Tonoy were murdered by a group of suspected Islamic militants in an apartment in Dhaka last month

(NurPhoto)

Police in Bangladesh have arrested a suspected Islamic militant for hacking two gay rights activists to death, following a spate of murders of academics, writers and religious minorities in the capital city of Dhaka.

Xulhaz Mannan, founder of Roopbaan magazine for Bangladesh’s gay and lesbian community, and fellow activist Mahbub Tonoy, were murdered in a Dhaka apartment last month by at least six men carrying machetes and guns.

Police said the man they arrested – who is unnamed – was a member of a local Islamist militant group which has been blamed for a string of similar murders of secular and atheist bloggers.

Dhaka police spokesman Maruf Hossain Sorder said: “We’ve arrested one man in connection with the murder of Xulhaz Mannan - he is a member of the Ansarullah Bangla Team".

Washington has condemned the killings of Tonoy and Mannan, who worked for US government aid organisation USAID. Both men had received threats from Islamists over their championing of gay rights.

The arrest comes after an elderly Buddhist monk was found hacked to death on Saturday in a temple in the southeastern district of Bandarban – the seventh incident of its kind since the start of April.

Other victims targeted have included high-profile cultural and intellectual figures, as well as private individuals said to have been murdered byIslamists who objected to their lifestyles.

Homosexuality remains illegal in Bangladesh and the country is thought to be one of the most dangerous places for LGBT people to live in the world.