From childhood, Asif Mohiuddin had been a dissident at heart. Born a Muslim, he frequently questioned the veracity of his religion’s rituals and beliefs, much to his parents’ and his teachers’ dismay, the latter of whom would often subject him to corporal punishment for out-of-line questioning. At the age of 13, he declared himself an atheist, and since then, he has written and acted in support of secularism and liberalism, making himself an enemy of the Bangladeshi government in the process.

Asif initially published his thoughts about the incompatibility of science and religion in local Dhaka newspapers in the 2000s before later starting his blog. There, he wrote against religious fundamentalism and in favor of liberalism, gender equality, and universal human rights. The blog would become one of the most-visited Bangladeshi webpages. Asif also organized an online community of freethinkers, the Bangladesh Secular Humanist Movement, and received an award from Deutsche Welle in 2012 for his work. 

"[Police] are trying to clamp down on this and prevent the exercise of one's right to the freedom of expression." - Asif Mohiuddin

Having built up such a reputation, Asif angered Islamist elements in Bangladesh. In January 2013, he was subjected to a stabbing attack from members of a militant organization following al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. Asif took a hammer to the head and suffered 53 knife wounds. Fortunately, his attackers were unsuccessful in taking his life and were arrested. Asif recovered in the hospital.

But this was not even the end of his ordeal. The following month, the Shahbag protests against the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party broke out in Dhaka, followed by additional attacks on bloggers and crackdowns from the Bangladeshi authorities on blogs that promoted atheist or secular ideas. Asif, four months after nearly dying for expressing these views, was arrested for them and sentenced to brief imprisonment.

After his release, Asif knew that Bangladesh was no longer safe. He fled to Germany.