A/HRC/34/56 Faisal Arefin Dipan, in October 2015 (see A/HRC/30/27, case BGD/2/2015 and A/HRC/31/79, State reply). 72. The Special Rapporteur regrets she did not receive a substantive reply from the Government of Bangladesh to her communication on the need to protect at-risk intellectuals. Moreover, she deplores subsequent government statements, which criticized the writers themselves. As Rafida Ahmed, widow of Mr. Roy, has written: “once a country silences and intimidates its intellectuals and freethinkers, a vicious cycle of … extremism becomes inevitable … it creates an intellectual vacuum, from which it could take many, many years to revert”. 34 73. Those who speak up in defence of the cultural rights of others against extremist or fundamentalist policies or measures often face grave risk. These include the late Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab in Pakistan, who advocated for a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. 35 Mr. Taseer was killed by a bodyguard who was subsequently sentenced to death and executed, but lionized by some. Htin Lin Oo, a former National League for Democracy official, was sentenced to two years hard labour in Myanmar, although later pardoned and released, after giving a speech at a 2014 literary event criticizing the use of Buddhism for promoting discrimination. 36 C. The right to take part in cultural life without discrimination 1. Women’s cultural rights 74. While observing that reference to culture, religion and tradition has often been misused to justify discrimination, the Special Rapporteur’s predecessor proposed a paradigm shift: from viewing culture as an obstacle to women’s rights to emphasizing the need to ensure women’s equal enjoyment of cultural rights (see A/67/287). Women’s cultural rights are a prime target for fundamentalists and extremists, who often claim to be defending culture, religion or tradition but instead deny the rights of others in these regards. 75. The struggle for women’s rights is an essential component of the fight against all forms of extremism, fundamentalism and terrorism. The gender component is not optional. “Every step forward in the fight for women’s rights is a piece of the struggle against fundamentalism.”37 76. Women human rights defenders have been leading the fight against fundamentalism and extremism for decades without sufficient attention being paid to their concerns by Governments, international organizations or the international human rights movement. They have urged that attention be paid to “warning sign of fundamentalism”, including rising violence against women, obvious developments which were “often ignored for the sake of national and religious unity”.38 77. Women human rights defenders challenging fundamentalist and extremist movements by, inter alia, defending women’s rights to take part in cultural life without discrimination are defending dynamic, living culture and cultural rights in accordance with 34 35 36 37 38 16 Quoted in International Humanist and Ethical Union, “The freedom of thought report 2015”, p. 7. Human Rights First, “Blasphemy law(lessness) in Pakistan”, 16 February 2011. Amnesty International, “Htin Lin Oo released after presidential pardon”, (urgent action 16/15, Amnesty International index No. ASA 16/3862/2016 Myanmar), 19 April 2016. Zeinabou Hadari, cited in Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight against Muslim Fundamentalism, Karima Bennoune (2013), p. 82. Ayesha Imam, Jenny Morgan and Nira Yuval-Davis, eds., Warning Signs of Fundamentalisms (Women Living Under Muslim Laws, 2004), p. xiv.