Updated

The widow of a Bangladeshi-American blogger killed earlier this year is decrying the Bangladesh government's failure to prosecute the perpetrators of deadly attacks on journalists and other writers.

Rafida Ahmed is also urging countries to provide safe houses for dozens more on death lists.

Ahmed, who was hacked four times in the head and had her thumb sliced off in the Feb. 26 attack in Dhaka that killed her husband Avijit Roy, was the surprise speaker at a panel Monday to mark the second International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

Ahmed said five writers, bloggers and publishers have been killed this year and others wounded for promoting "free thoughts, secularism and freedom of speech."