Kerry asked to help ensure justice

A group of US Congressmen in a statement has asked the Secretary of State John Kerry to help ensure that perpetrators of the murder of writer-blogger Avijit Roy are brought to justice.  

"We must stand strong for freedom of speech and freedom of thought," said the statement signed by Congressmen Mike Honda, Ed Royce, Eliot Engel, Grace Meng, Steve Chabot and Ami Bera.

Unidentified assailants killed Avijit, a Bangladesh-born US citizen, and badly wounded his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya on Dhaka University campus after the couple came out of the Ekushey Boi Mela on February 26.

He had repeatedly been receiving death threats from Islamist fundamentalists in Bangladesh and it is presumed that this was a religiously motivated attack, read the statement dated February 27.

"The US Embassy and Department of State must remain engaged, and work with Bangladesh's government, to insist that Roy's killers are brought to justice, and to ensure that threats to other secularists and writers in Bangladesh are taken seriously," it read.

The Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last month, the synagogue shootings in Denmark two weeks ago and (Avijit) Roy's murder in Bangladesh are representative of the disturbing and growing number of attacks around the world by religious fanatics against the advocates of freedom of speech, said the Congressmen.  

"The United States cannot allow extremists to operate with impunity," the statement read.    

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal, posted a message on her official Twitter page last evening, saying that words were not enough to condemn the sad incident.

"My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of the Bangladeshi writer," she said, adding, "I strongly condemn the brutal murder of the Bangladeshi writer few days ago.   We believe in freedom of expression."

Avijit was the founder of Mukto-Mona blog, a platform of progressive, secular bloggers.