DHAKA : Dueling Protests

Both foes and fans of Bangladesh’s most controversial author plan to take to the capital’s monsoon-washed streets Thursday.

Muslim extremists have offered a reward for the assassination of feminist writer Taslima Nasrin, in hiding since a court ordered her arrest for offending Muslims, who make up about 90% of the country’s population.

Nasrin’s crime: giving a newspaper interview in which she called for revision of the Koran, the Muslim holy book. The 31-year-old author later claimed she was misquoted and that she demanded only an update of Islamic law because, in her view, it discriminates against women.

Both fundamentalist and secular, left-leaning organizations have called strikes for Thursday, respectively to condemn and to support Nasrin.