A college professor in Bangladesh says the authorities have yielded to the demands of Islamist groups and removed her from her post for being vocal about women's property rights.
Nadira Yeasmin, an assistant professor of Bangla language at Narsingdi Government College, was transferred about 270km away to another college near the border with India after a 48-hour ultimatum was issued by Hefazat-e-Islam.
Activists and civil society groups in Bangladesh have expressed concern over religious hardliners exploiting the fragile law and order situation in the aftermath of last year's monsoon protest to curtail women’s rights.
Ms Yeasmin, a vocal women's rights activist, was removed from her post after Hefazat-e-Islam protested against the professor’s articles in a local magazine titled 'Hisya' (rights).
The Islamist outfit claimed that articles published in the magazine calling for equal inheritance rights for men and women – a longstanding demand in Bangladesh – were contradictory to Islamic inheritance laws.
The Hefazat earlier in April had staged massive protests against the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission, which the interim government had installed to ensure equal rights for women.
Ms Yeasmin has now been appointed an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) at the Satkhira Government Mahila College in Dhulna district, a move that is being viewed as disciplinary action against her. While professors are routinely transferred to new roles, OSD postings usually remove them from active duties while keeping them on the payroll, according to local media reports.
Ms Yeasmin, in a post on Facebook, said her "freedom of expression has been violated". "As a woman, I protest this incident. However, no force can suppress my voice when it comes to speaking up for human rights," she added.
The professor said Bangladesh's education department could have transferred her to any college in Dhaka or other districts, but they moved her to Satkhira – an area of strong support for the right-wing outfit Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
"What is the real goal of those who transferred me to Satkhira?" she asked.
Her transfer has triggered a conversation about the shrinking space for women's freedom of speech in Bangladesh since the ousting of the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina emboldened radical religious groups.
Maleka Banu, secretary general of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, earlier told The Independent that Islamists were using their increased visibility since last year's popular protests to create an environment of fear so that women were confined to their homes.
Last year’s student protests snowballed into a bloody revolution against Ms Hasina's Awami League government. It forced Ms Hasina to flee to India on a helicopter as an angry mob overran the presidential palace.
The power vacuum was quickly filled with a caretaker government led by long-time Hasina critic and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who returned to the country to be named interim leader.
After Ms Hasina fled, law and order collapsed in Bangladesh as police refused to return to the streets, citing targeted violence. While the law enforcement apparatus has since limped back to work, the situation remains grim, with reports of women being publicly humiliated because of their clothes, appearances and movements.
Dr Banu had accused Bangladesh's past and present governments of bowing down before the "right-wing and forgetting women's rights".
Ms Yeasmin's transfer was criticised by academics, activists and civil society members, who asked the government to roll back the decision.
Samantha Sharmin, senior joint convener of the newly-formed National Citizens’ Party, said: "I strongly protest the decision to transfer Nadira Yasmin by surrendering to mob violence. This decision should be reversed immediately."
Social media group Bangladesh Feminist Archives condemned the government's move, which it said goes against the values of democracy and principles of free speech.
The group said the professor faced both physical and online intimidation for her advocacy of equal property rights between men and women.
"Nadira Yasmin committed no crime. She simply voiced an opinion in a public debate. Even if her position were controversial, she had every right to express it," the group said.
"The state's duty was to protect her, not surrender to mob pressure."
Academic Tanveer Hossain Anoy warned that "what begins as a protest against one woman’s voice ends as a warning to every woman who dares to speak".
Anu Muhammad, professor and member of the Democratic Rights Committee, a civil society group, said that although the Hasina regime has been ousted the situation for freedom of speech remains the same. "The people of the discriminatory Hefazat are unable to answer words with words, and write with writing. That is why they resort to force, shouting, threats, and attacks," he was quoted by Prothom Alo as saying.
In a statement to the Daily Star, a Hefazat spokesperson said that they were "happy" that a "solution had been reached" with the transfer of Ms Yeasmin.
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