Roy’s murder compared to Charlie Hebdo, Denmark synagogue attacks.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: A bipartisan group of six US House representatives, led by Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA), and including Ami Bera (D-CA), has sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry asking him to work with the Bangladeshi government to see that the murderer of American citizen Dr. Avijit Roy are “brought to justice.”
Roy, a secular blogger who started ‘Mukto-Mona’ and espoused free speech, was hacked to death by machetes on the streets of Dhaka on February 26, by members of a fundamentalist religious group. His wife, Rashida Ahmed Bonna, also a blogger, was also attacked, and is in critical condition.
In the letter, Honda, Bera, Ed Royce (R-CA), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Grace Meng (D-NY), and Steve Chabot (R-OH) say they are “deeply troubled by the brutal public murder of American writer Dr. Avijit Roy.”
The letter says: “The Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last month, the synagogue shootings in Denmark two weeks ago and Dr. Roy’s murder in Bangladesh are representative of the disturbing and growing number of attacks around the world by religious fanatics against freedom of speech advocates.”
It adds: “The United States cannot allow extremists to operate with impunity. We must stand strong for freedom of speech and freedom of thought.”
The letter calls upon the U.S. Embassy and Department of State to remain engaged, and work with Bangladesh’s government, to insist that Dr. Roy’s killers are brought to justice, and to ensure that threats to other secularists, and writers in Bangladesh are taken seriously.
In a separate statement, Bera said: “The United States and Bangladesh must work together to protect the fundamental right to freedom of speech that Dr. Avijit Roy embodied. I urge the State Department and U.S. Embassy to act swiftly to bring justice to those responsible for Dr. Roy’s murder.”
This Saturday, a group of Bay Area Bangladeshi Americans will be holding a candlelight vigil in honor of Roy at Lake Elizabeth in Fremont, California. Over 3,000 Bangladeshi Americans have signed a petition demanding “justice” for Avijit Roy’s killing in Dhaka.