In Bangladesh, Mahmudul Haque Munshi was one of the leaders who spearheaded the Shahbag movement, which advocated capital punishment for Bangladeshi war criminals as well as the banning of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami political party. Many who led and participated in the movement were thus targeted by Islamists, who called the movement atheistic and un-Islamic. They were subject to harassment, assault, death threats, and murder. Mahmudul, a blogger with more than 500,000 followers, was one of them; after being placed on a hit list and repeatedly targeted, he fled Bangladesh, eventually arriving in Germany with the help of Atheist Refugee Relief.

While Germany ended up safer for Mahmudul than Bangladesh, he claims he still found himself subject to death threats when he arrived—some from other Bangladeshi migrants. Many of them, he says, came to him online. He was also placed on another hit list targeting expatriates and asylees.

“The problem is, I get threats every day on Facebook. You know, one day, I got 4,500 death threats!” - Mahmudul Haque Munshi

Since his initial settlement in Germany, though, things have quieted down somewhat. He now has a son, Nirban, and in May 2020, he was voted onto the board of Atheist Refugee Relief. He continues to advocate for people like himself who find themselves persecuted for their religious non-belief.