The United Nations has joined the world community in condemning the killing of writer and blog activist Avijit Roy who was hacked to death in Dhaka on Thursday by suspected radical Islamists.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary-General expressed the hope that the perpetrators would be quickly brought to justice through the due process of law.
At a press briefing at the UN headquarters on Friday, he said: “It’s obviously very important that the space for freedom of expression in civil society be upheld in Bangladesh.”
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Unidentified assailants hacked the Bangladeshi-American writer-blogger to death and seriously injured his wife, Rafida Ahmed Bonya, on Dhaka University campus on Thursday. Roy, who worked at a U.S. software company, was the founder of the ‘Mukto-Mona’ blog and used to write against communalism and religious superstitions.
Meanwhile the United States has described the murder as “horrific in its brutality and cowardice” and offered to assist in the investigations. The EU Delegation in Dhaka and the British High Commission condemned the killing.