ICC Note: Rosaline Costa, a Catholic editor from Bangladesh, fled to the US after receiving numerous threats causing her to fear for her life. She started receiving these threats after she wrote editorials in the newspaper she worked for about the growing religious discrimination and violence in the country. There are numerous incidents of Christians being targeted by Muslims and persecuted in various ways in Bangladesh, so Costa decided to leave before she was attacked. Bangladesh has seen a rise in religious violence recently and the authorities and judicial system either cannot or will not do anything to stop this discriminatory violence from happening.

08/12/2016, Bangladesh (Catholic Herald) – Rosaline Costa heard people tell her “be careful” so often she decided that she had to flee her native Bangladesh for the United States to stay alive.

Costa, 67, a Catholic, has been the editor of Hotline Bangladesh for 30 years. The monthly newsletter chronicles corruption, crime, terror and religious violence in the nation, which borders India to the east.

But now Costa is in New York City, figuring out how she can get Hotline Bangladesh published nearly half a world away.

Costa left Bangladesh in July. She has been staying with two nephews and a niece, each of whom left Bangladesh themselves a year ago after they had been harassed and threatened.

The niece’s Muslim uncle was trying to force her into marrying him, Costa told Catholic News Service on Tuesday during a visit to Washington. One nephew was taken to a mosque and told to convert to Islam under fear of death.

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