Such savage killings must end here

Says Amnesty Int’l

Amnesty International has demanded thorough and independent investigation into the killing of bloggers in Bangladesh.

In a statement yesterday, David Griffiths, South Asia research director at Amnesty International, said the government must send the strong message that killings aimed at silencing dissenting voices were despicable and would not be tolerated.

The statement came hours after blogger Niladri Chattopadhyay was killed at his Goran home in Dhaka.

“This spate of savage killings must end here. There is little doubt that these especially brutal killings are designed to sow fear and to have a chilling effect on free speech. This is unacceptable,” Griffiths said.

“The price for holding opinions and expressing them freely must not be death. The Bangladeshi authorities now have an urgent duty to make clear that no more attacks like this will be tolerated,” he said.

“Thorough, effective, independent and impartial investigations must be carried out promptly to ensure that all those responsible are brought to justice in fair trials without recourse to the death penalty.”

Source: The Daily Star