Kerry asked to give humanitarian parole to B'deshi bloggers

A coalition of free expression and human rights advocacy groups has appealed to US Secretary of State John Kerry to provide temporary visa to Bangladeshi secular writers, bloggers facing threats following brutal killings by extremists.
"We write to urge the US government to provide humanitarian parole for a limited number of high-profile Bangladeshi secularists at imminent risk of attack.
"The dire situation that these writers face fits the criteria and high threshold applicable to the granting of humanitarian parole," said the letter addressed to Kerry.
Signatories to the letter include PEN American Centre, the Association of American Publishers, the Centre for Inquiry, City of Asylum Pittsburgh, Freedom House, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, and Reporters Without Borders.

Humanitarian parole is a discretionary visa-granting programme intended to provide emergency relief to individuals at risk who would otherwise be inadmissible to the US.
The State Department can appeal to the Department of Homeland Security for the parole in cases of compelling urgency.

"Bloggers and writers in Bangladesh have nowhere left to turn, as they face both death threats by extremist groups and fear of arrest on charges of blasphemy by government officials seeking to appease religious authorities," said Karin Deutsch Karlekar, PEN's Director of Free Expression Programmes who recently testified at a US Congressional briefing on the subject.
"Dozens of Bangladeshi writers now living in hiding have reached out to our organisations for support and protections their own government is unwilling or unable to provide, creating an insurmountable atmosphere of violence and impunity. Forced to choose between their desire to express themselves and their personal safety, these writers have no other option but to seek solace outside Bangladesh," she said.

Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director of PEN America, said that having championed global efforts to defend internet freedom and fend off threats to religious liberty, the US should take the lead to save the lives of these bloggers who face the very real risk of being murdered for the crime of expressing their views online.
"Humanitarian parole offers a viable way for the US to bring these terrified bloggers to safety," she added.
The letter said extremist groups pose a threat not only to writers in Bangladesh, but have proven that they are willing to attack and kill American citizens, and to threaten writers outside of Bangladesh's own borders.

Six secular writers, bloggers and a publisher have been hacked to death in Bangladesh in the past two and half years, five of them since January this year, with families and friends of the deceased alleging failure on the part of police in bringing perpetrators to justice.