Bangladesh bans books for hurting the religious sentiment of Muslims

A Bangladeshi court has ordered a ban on the publication, sale, distribution and marketing of two works of fiction because they hurt the religious sentiment of the Muslims.

A two-judge panel of the High Court passed the ruling asking the authorities to ban the of the books titled "Dia Arefin" and "Diya Arefiner Nanir Bani", written secularist blogger Diarshi Arag.

Deputy Attorney General Amit Talukder said Wednesday the order came after a lawyer brought the books to the court's attention claiming that their contents undermined the Muslim faith and its prophet Muhammad.[embed:render:embedded:node:33275]

In "Diya Arefin," a woman is portrayed as a female prophet of Islam to whom God sends angels to pass on his orders. But in Islam, Muhammad is the last prophet and there is no chance that a female could become one.

"Diya Arefiner Nanir Bani", the second book, contains speeches by Diya Arefin's grandmother.

The Muslim-majority South Asian country witnessed a wave of attacks on secularist writers, bloggers, publishers, activists, priests, foreigners and people from the other faiths between 2013 and 2016.

The deadliest among the attacks was carried out at a restaurant in Dhaka killing 20 civilians, mostly foreign nationals that followed nationwide anti-militant raids. The security forces killed more than 100 suspected Islamist militants.    (dpa)