Indian Muslim Group Offers Bounty For Killing Bangladeshi Author

"Inside Islam, a crime of a "vicious tongue" could get you beheaded. This is just another fruit which it produces in the harvest of the 'religion of peace' because they do not respect the freedom of speech, especially if it shines a scrutiny of light upon them and the "religion" they practice..."

A little-known conservative Indian Muslim group has offered a reward of 500,000 rupees (11,319 US dollars) for killing the controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, news reports said Saturday. Taqi Raza Khan, president of the All India Ibtehad Council, said he had ordered the qatal (elimination) of the novelist, who lives in exile in India, in a statement issued in Lucknow, capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state on Friday, the Times of India newspaper reported.

Nasreen, 45, fled from Bangladesh in 1994 after hardline Muslim clergymen said her writings were blasphemous and demanded her execution. The writer, who is also a trained doctor, lived for over a decade in Europe and the United States. She now resides in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata and is seeking permanent Indian citizenship. "Taslima has put Muslims to shame in her writing. She should be killed and beheaded and anyone who does this will get a reward from the council," Khan said in the statement. The All India Ibtehad Council is based in Bareilly, about 240 kilometres north-west of Lucknow. It is said to be a splinter group of the powerful All India Muslim Personal Law Board and was set up four years.

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