Human Rights Commissioner Kofler on the murder of two human rights activists in Bangladesh

Following the murder of two human rights activists in Bangladesh on 25 April, Bärbel Kofler, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, issued the following statement in Berlin on 26 April:

Zusatzinformationen

I was deeply shocked to learn of the murder of the human rights activists Xulhaz Mannan and his partner Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy in their flat in Dhaka.

This is not an isolated case. Since last year, bloggers, publishers, academics and LGBTI activists critical of religious practices in Bangladesh have been the victims of brutal attacks. These are not only attacks against courageous individuals but also against freedom of opinion as a whole in a country which, until now, could be proud of a diverse intellectual life and a dynamic civil society.

I urge the Government of Bangladesh to investigate these murders swiftly and purposefully and to help ensure that the perpetrators receive a just punishment in a trial conducted in accordance with due process of law. I call on the entire country, with which Germany has had special ties since its establishment in 1971, to ensure that violent extremism is not tolerated and to work to ensure that human and civil rights are respected, especially freedom of opinion.

Background information:

On the evening of 25 April, several youths armed with knives, machetes and pistols forced their way into the flat of the LGBTI activist Xulhaz Mannan and his partner Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy in Dhaka and murdered the two men. Initial eye-witness reports suggest that it may have been an Islamist motivated crime.

Only last weekend, a professor at Rajshahi University in the north-west of the country was murdered in a similar fashion.

The two incidents are the latest in a series of fatal attacks on liberal intellectuals, journalists and publishers during the last few months. There have also been attacks on religious minorities such as Shiites, Ahmadiyya Muslims, Hindus and Christians. None of these crimes have been solved to date by the authorities in Bangladesh.

from
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Infoservice/Presse/Meldungen/2016/160426_Bangladesch.html?nn=479796