Secular blogger Omi Rahman Pial was forced into hiding after living on the run in Bangladesh due to being placed on a jihadist hit list for writing against Islamism. Several bloggers on the list were killed by the jihadists and sympathizers.
involvement in Bangladesh's Shahbag movement
In August 2015, Bangladeshi blogger Omi Rahman Pial was placed on a hit list by a Taliban-affiliated group alongside other bloggers, including Arifur Rahman and Niloy Neel, the latter of whom had been murdered just a few days prior and whose name had been struck through with red pen. Omi and the other bloggers were all sympathetic to secularism and liberalism, and Omi had been prolific in his opposition to Islamism, particularly the Jamaat-e-Islami political party. A note threatening death accompanied the names on the list.
“Death will come one day friend, today or tomorrow. For the sake of Almighty we will take the life of His enemies. What is your identity if you do not cry for insult of the Prophet? Death will come one day friend, take the life of the enemy.” - death threat on the hit list
“I have not seen my 6-year-old daughter for weeks; my wife is safe for now as she is outside the country with a scholarship. I don’t go outside for days.” - Omi Rahman Pial
In a climate where individuals on the list were being actively hunted and several secular bloggers had recently been killed, Omi’s life was in danger. He was forced into hiding, changing residencies several times in only a few months, fearful to show his face in public. Omi viewed the threats against and killings of bloggers as a pushback against the Shahbag movement, which protested Jamaat-e-Islami for their involvement in war crimes in 1971, and of which Omi himself was a part.
As of November 2020, Omi was reported as residing in Switzerland.
Blasphemy law in Bangladesh allows the state to arrest, trial and imprison any person who has intention of hurting "religious sentiments." While the state does not have any law against apostasy, vigilantism or non-state groups prosecute apostates on their own. Vigilante violence has been an especially acute issue, most notably in the mid-2010s when a string of secularist and atheist bloggers suffered murder and attempted murder at the hands of Islamist extremists.