Bangladesh must act on these brutal attacks on bloggers
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Version 0 of 1. We, the undersigned writers, and PEN members, come together to condemn the horrific deaths of our colleagues Ananta Bijoy Das (or Dash), Washiqur Rahman Babu and Avijit Roy, three secular bloggers who have been brutally murdered on the streets of Bangladesh in the last three months. We urge Prime Minister Hasina Wajed and her government to do all in their power to ensure that the tragic events of the last three months are not repeated, and to bring the perpetrators to justice. We were shocked and horrified by the murder of 32-year-old blogger and editor Ananta Bijoy Das, who was hacked to death on his way to work by a masked gang wielding machetes in the city of Sylhet on 12 May. Prior to his death, Das had reportedly received a number of death threats from Islamist militants, and his name had appeared in two assassination lists published in the Bangladeshi media, alongside those of other secular bloggers described as anti-Islamic and blasphemous. Just months earlier, on 26 February, Avijit Roy, a fellow blogger and close friend of Das, was similarly killed. Roy and his wife, Rafida Ahmed Bonya, were viciously attacked by unknown assailants close to Dhaka University. Roy died soon afterwards and his wife was severely injured. A militant Islamist group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. A month later, on 29 March, blogger Washiqur Rahman Babu was murdered just 500 yards from his home in Begunbari, Dhaka. Police have claimed that the attackers targeted the 27-year-old blogger because they believed he had defamed Islam through his writings on websites, forums and social media. Two students from a madrassa (an Islamic school) have since been arrested in connection with Rahman’s killing. At least three other writers have been attacked or murdered in Bangladesh since 2013 and, although there have been several arrests, no one has been held to account for any of these attacks. We are gravely concerned by this escalating pattern of violence against writers and journalists who are peacefully expressing their views. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right under Bangladesh’s constitution and under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We call on the Bangladeshi authorities to swiftly and impartially investigate Das’s death as well as the murders of Roy and Babu, and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice in accordance with international fair trial standards. We also demand that the authorities do all in their power to provide protection and support to bloggers and other writers at risk in Bangladesh, in accordance with Bangladesh’s obligations under national and international law. Elisabeth AbendrothJim AitkenTruijens AleidFrank Mackay Anim-AppiahFrankie Asare-Donkoh President, Ghana PEN CentreMargaret AtwoodMichael AugustinDr Hanan Awwad President, Palestine PENCecilia BalcázarElke BannachMaría Cecilia BarbettaNiels BarfoedShrabani BasuNazmi BayrıRonald BosMarian Botsford Fraser Chair of Writers in Prison Committee, PEN International Suzanne BrøggerDr Barbara BronnenRicky BrownUrvashi ButaliaJoyce CaplanMetin CengizSudeep ChakravartyAnne ClarkeJennifer ClementJo CliffordAnne ConnollyDaniela DahnSwapan Dasgupta Rachna DavidarAline Davidoff President, PEN Mexico Alexis de RoodeSiddharta DebJob DegenaarAntonio Della Rocca President, PEN TriesteRenan DemirkanMeghnad DesaiFaisal DevjiDr Mathias SchreiberDr Burkhart VeigelSuzanne EgertonJohn ElliottPeter EnglundHaydar ErgülenRoberto FabrisMoris FarhiFahimeh FarsaieCharles ForanÖyvind FossMaureen Freely President, English PENUwe FrieselJostein GaarderMeenakshi GangulyNina GeorgeAmitav GhoshJo Glanville Director, English PENBrigitte C GottholdFiona GrahamGloria GuardiaMichael GuggenheimerApar GuptaDaniel HahnKaiser HaqJosef Haslinger President, German PENGert HeidenreichChristoph HeinHallgrímur HelgasonWerner HolzerJules HorneIman Humaydan Khademul Islam Member, Bangladesh PENAnjali JosephWim JurgSirpa Kähkönen President, Finnish PENRaghu KarnadLucina KathmannJan KempAndrej Khadanovich President, Belarusian PENCharlie KingTanja KinkelKarl Ove KnausgaardSibylle KnaussChristoph KönigAnja KovacsHari KunzruOla Larsmo President, Swedish PENJoanne Leedom-AckermanJoan LingardChiara MacconiKona MacpheeRishi MajumderEmile Martel President, Quebec PENYann MartelChristine McKenzie President, PEN MelbourneKyle Mewburn President, PEN NZAlison MillerSam MillerDenise MinaRohinton MistryPetra MorsbachLina MorselliNeel MukherjeeAyten MutluMaureen MyantVayoo NaiduHege Newth NouriWilliam Nygaar President, Norwegian PENHarry OberländerHans-Christian OeserVida OgnjenovicPer Øhrgaard President, Danish PENAudur Ava ÓlafsdóttirZeynep Oral President, PEN TurkeyMargie Orford President, PEN South AfricaMete ÖzelKaiser ÖzHunRa Page Founder, Comma PressPeter ParkerPer PettersonTom PowLutz GötzeGabriele Pommerin-GötzeChristoph LindenmeyerJean RaffertyAnita RaghawanAshis RayMonika RinckJudith RodriguezThomas RothschildNilanjana RoyAnuradha RoyElisabeth RugeSalman RushdieGita SahgalMinoli SalgadoAlejandro Sánchez-AizcorbeUlrike SandigPhilippe Sands QCAshwin SanghiRajdeep SardesaiAyse SarisayanCarole SatyamurthyJohn Ralston Saul President, PEN InternationalSamantha SchneeChrista SchuenkeAndrew SclaterSjón President, Icelandic PENMorelle SmithClaire SquiresElizabeth StarcevicLeslie StevensonLiam StewartKlaus TheweleitAnnika ThorElsa TióPragya TiwariColm TóibínCarles Torner Director, PEN InternatioalSalil TripathiCynthia TroupAleid TruijensTina UebelLinn UllmannManon Uphoff President, PEN Netherlands Amir Valle OjedaKarthika VKMartin A VölkerGabriele von ArnimCatherine VuylstekePer Wästberg Harry WatsonHerbert WiesnerLes WilsonYazici YaseminHalim YazıcıÇetin YiğenoğluArnold ZableAtiya Zaidi |