Locals say the boy was electrocuted first and his mother and sister died while trying to help him
US body urges State Department to give Bangladeshi writers, bloggers asylum
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has urged Secretary of State John Kerry to provide humanitarian parole for Bangladeshi writers and bloggers at risk.
Published : 10 Feb 2016, 09:52 AM
Updated : 10 Feb 2016, 10:01 AM
Humanitarian parole is an extraordinary measure used to bring an otherwise inadmissible alien into the country for a temporary period due to a compelling emergency, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service’s website.
In a letter to Kerry on Jan 25, the USCIRF asked to initiate the measure for a ‘limited number of Bangladeshi writers at imminent risk of assassination by extremist groups’.
A US State Department spokesperson told bdnews24.com on Tuesday that they were in the process of responding to the Commission’s letter.
The USCIRF is an independent US federal government commission, which, according to its website, works for defending right to freedom of religion or belief abroad.
The letter refers to the 2015 killings of bloggers Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahman Babu, Ananta Bijoy Das, Niloy Chatterjee, and publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan for their secular beliefs.
“Additionally, numerous other individuals have been placed on “hit-lists,” which are widely available on the Internet. The five murders, along with the hit lists, underscore that several individuals remain in imminent danger,” it read.
RELATED STORIES
The DNCC is using two water cannons to spray main roads and 10 water bowsers to spray side roads
The examinees are vying for 12,000 seats available in the A Unit at Jagannath University
Four others injured in the incident have been admitted to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital
