Bangladesh: punish the killers of three secular bloggers who were hacked to death recently (writers letter)

The Telegraph

Rushdie Bangla call

London, May 22 (PTI): Author Salman Rushdie has joined fellow Booker Prize winners Amitav Ghosh and Margaret Atwood to appeal to the Bangladesh government to do "all in its power" to punish the killers of three secular bloggers who were hacked to death recently.

More than 150 writers from around the world have expressed their "grave concern" over this "escalating pattern of violence against writers and journalists who are peacefully expressing their views".

The writers have called on the Sheikh Hasina-led government in an appeal through The Guardian "to ensure that the tragic events of the last three months are not repeated, and to bring the perpetrators to justice".

They have added their names to an open letter that comes days after machete-wielding masked men hacked to death 33-year-old blogger Ananta Bijoy Das in Bangladesh in the third such attack by Islamists since February.