Bangladesh LGBT community under hate crime threat

Weeks after suspected Islamist militants hacked Bangladesh's most prominent gay rights activist to death in his apartment along with an associate, another friend received a chilling message that he was next in line.

“Say your prayers, confess to God for your sins. Eat or drink whatever you wish to, nobody can save you,” read the handwritten letter, delivered to his home in Dhaka.

Bangladesh’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community was already marginalised in a country where same-sex sexual activity is illegal and many people strongly disapprove.

Now it has been pushed further into the shadows after Xulhaz Mannan, editor of the country’s first LGBT-themed magazine, and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy were murdered in the capital on April 25.

Read more at The Fuji Times.