Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi author who has been living in a safe house in New Dehli for the past four months, announced yesterday that she will leave India, claiming that she has been living under a "virtual house arrest" and that she has been denied urgent medical care, Reuters reported. The author has been living in an undisclosed location in the Indian capital, where she has been isolated with a mobile phone, laptop computer, and a television. No visitors have been allowed. "I have not been able to see a good cardiologist for the last few months, and I have a serious heart problem," Nasrin told Reuters.
Nasrin fled Bangladesh in 1994 when she received death threats after remarking that the Qur'an must be changed to give women greater rights. Thirteen years later, at a book party following the publication of her novel Shodh (Getting Even) in Kolkata last August, members of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party protested her work, calling her "anti-Muslim" and "anti-Islam." She was later charged with "hurting Muslim feelings" and faced up to three years in jail. Nasrin was then forced into hiding in New Dehli after further protests led to riots in the Indian city.
Nasrin told reporters yesterday that she must leave the country as soon as possible but that she can't say where she is going.
