The United States strongly condemns yesterday’s brutal and senseless murder of human rights and civil society activist Salwa Bugaighis in Benghazi, Libya. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet Salwa in Libya in November 2011, soon after the ouster of Qadhafi. I was deeply impressed by her courage, leadership and dedication to building a peaceful, democratic Libya where the rights and freedoms of all Libyan women and men are respected and protected. We join the Libyan people in mourning the loss of Salwa Bugaighis and call on all Libyans to reject violent extremists seeking to silence their opponents and derail the aspirations of the Libyan people.