Journalists Killed  |  Afghanistan

Mirwais Jalil

BBC World Service

July 29, 1994, in an area near Kabul, Afghanistan

Jalil, a 25-year-old reporter for the Pashto- and Persian-language sections of the BBC World Service, was kidnapped and murdered while returning from an interview with renegade prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar at his base in Charasyab, south of Kabul. Five masked militiamen stopped Jalil's taxi and abducted him at gunpoint. The assailants released the taxi driver and an Italian journalist who was traveling with Jalil.

Jalil's body was discovered the following morning in Chelsitoon, on the outskirts of Kabul. He had been shot at least 20 times in the head and chest. Jalil had received threats during the year from several of Afghanistan's warring mujahedeen factions. He had aggressively covered the country's internecine civil war for the BBC, and his reports were widely recognized as authoritative in Afghanistan.


Medium: Radio

Job: Broadcast Reporter

Beats Covered: Politics, War

Gender: Male

Local or Foreign: Local

Freelance: No

Type of Death: Murder

Suspected Source of Fire: Unknown Fire

Impunity: Yes

Taken Captive: Yes

Tortured: No

Threatened: Yes


Previous Journalist, 1994 »

 

Video: Lara Logan

Why CPJ matters Join Us

International Press
Freedom Awards

Save the date: Tuesday, November 24. CPJ will honor top global journalists at its 19th annual benefit. Christiane Amanpour hosts.

Anatomy of Injustice

Unsolved murders in Russia
Anatomy of Injustice

Pakistani reporters
face grave risks

CPJ’s Bob Dietz
examines the challenges on the CPJ Blog