Blogger Killed

A blogger in Bangladesh has been brutally killed by a gang armed with machetes. This was not the first blogger in the country, who has been killed for the opinions he expressed in his blog, but the fourth.

So far, only two people have been arrested for the killings. None has been charged. Critics say the government do too little.

I do not know what the government does do to investigate these murders and bring the murderers to justice. What seems to be perfectly clear, however, is that the murders are committed due to the opinions of the victims. This is an attack on the freedom of speech, one of the fundamental bases of a free society. Such crimes must not be tolerated. I do hope the murderers will be caught and tried for their crimes.

We have had debates on freedom of speech in Sweden as well this week. A bunch of people tore down signs with propaganda for the Sweden Democrats, a reformed Nazi party which claims to be democratic. I do not like this party, but I also did not like the act of tearing down the party's propaganda. The latter was also an attack on the freedom of speech. Still, when reading about the murdered bloggers in Bangladesh, it puts these acts in a different perspective. I do hope we are far from murders because people excercise their freedom of speech in Sweden.