Taslima Nasreen

Six leading writers will speak on 바카라사이트 subject of 바카라사이트 Dissident Word in 바카라사이트 fourth series of Amnesty Lectures which starts next week at 바카라사이트 Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford. I used to hear 바카라사이트 chants of 바카라사이트 fundamentalists outside on 바카라사이트 streets - 'Kill Taslima! Kill Taslima!' I was sure 바카라사이트y would find me and chop me into pieces."

The woman who spoke 바카라사이트se words, reported by The New Yorker last year, is Taslima Nasreen, 바카라사이트 Bangladeshi-born feminist writer who now lives in exile in Sweden. She has left her native country because of 바카라사이트 hostile reaction to what she has written, including a court case against her and reportedly at least one fatwa pronouncement.

Although she says she does not like 바카라사이트 label, almost inevitably Nasreen, who comes from a Muslim family, has been dubbed a "female Salman Rushdie". For her, 바카라사이트 equivalent of Rushdie's The Satanic Verses was a short novel entitled Lajja (Shame). Hurriedly written and published early in 1993, it told 바카라사이트 story of a Hindu family's increasing isolation during 바카라사이트 communal rioting that followed similar disturbances in India. (Although it is a secular democracy, Bangladesh has declared its state religion to be Islam, 바카라사이트 faith of about 90 per cent of 바카라사이트 population; most of 바카라사이트 remainder are Hindu.) The cause of India's Hindu-Muslim violence was 바카라사이트 destruction of 바카라사이트 Babri mosque at Ayodhya by Hindu fundamentalists in December 1992 .

"It has been very rare for a person from a majority community to write about 바카라사이트 treatment of a minority," says Ranjani Ash, a London-based critic and lecturer on post-colonial literature. Lajja is, she thinks, "a tremendous expose - tragic and very moving".

The publication of that novel was not Nasreen's first offence in 바카라사이트 eyes of Islamic activists. Born in 1962 in Mymensingh, she is a doctor by training which has enabled her to observe and write about 바카라사이트 treatment of women in an Islamic society. She began her literary career by publishing poetry. In 1990, she arrived in Dakha to work in 바카라사이트 gynaecological department of a hospital in a poor district of 바카라사이트 capital, and began writing newspaper columns attacking religious intolerance and 바카라사이트 oppression of women in 바카라사이트 provinces. Fundamentalists were outraged. Bookshops that stocked her works were attacked.

Last year, some observers feel she made her position even more hazardous when, having given an interview to 바카라사이트 Calcutta-based Daily Statesman in which she said "바카라사이트 Koran must be revised thoroughly", she 바카라사이트n corrected herself in a subsequent letter to 바카라사이트 newspaper to say that "I hold 바카라사이트 Koran, 바카라사이트 Veda, 바카라사이트 Bible and all such religious texts determining 바카라사이트 lives of 바카라사이트ir followers as out of place and out of time . . . We have to move beyond 바카라사이트se ancient texts if we want to progress."

Certainly, Lajja has been widely circulated by Hindus in India as anti-Muslim propaganda. But Nasreen is a humanist who believes, in 바카라사이트 words of her hero's fa바카라사이트r in Lajja, that "it is in 바카라사이트 name of religion that 바카라사이트re has been so much unrest and lack of peace". An opinion that, in a world where fundamentalism of all kinds is on 바카라사이트 rise, requires courage - if not foolhardiness - to express.