Afghanistan / Asia

Washington, D.C., July 27, 2021 — Afghan authorities must immediately release journalists Bismillah Watandoost, Qudrat Soltani, Moheb Obaidi, and Sanaullah Siam, drop their investigation into their work, and allow members of the press to report freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, officials with Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, the country’s national intelligence…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined a coalition of U.S. news and press freedom organizations in joint letters to President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Congressional leadership asking the U.S. government to provide humanitarian assistance and emergency visas to Afghans who have worked with U.S. media outlets.  In 2020, at least five journalists…

Washington, D.C., July 16, 2021 — Afghan authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the killing of Reuters photojournalist Danish Siddiqui and do everything in their power to protect members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Siddiqui, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work in 2018, was killed…

Washington, D.C., June 7, 2021 — Afghan authorities should launch a thorough and credible investigation into the killing of journalist Mina Khairi, determine if she was targeted for her work, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On the evening of June 3, in Kabul, the capital, unidentified attackers…

New York, March 2, 2021 — Afghan authorities should thoroughly investigate and hold to account the killings of three employees of Enikass Radio and TV and take steps to protect the station, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The shooting deaths followed the murder in December of a reporter at the broadcaster and her…

New York, January 4, 2021 – Afghan authorities must conduct a swift and through investigation into the killing of journalist Bismillah Adel Aimaq and take all possible steps to protect members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 1, unidentified attackers shot and killed Aimaq, the head of local broadcaster…

Retaliatory killings of journalists worldwide rose significantly in 2020 from the previous year, but deaths covering war dropped sharply. A CPJ special report by Jennifer Dunham December 22, 2020 NEW YORK The number of journalists murdered in retaliation for their work more than doubled in 2020, as criminal gangs and militant groups targeted reporters working…

New York, December 21, 2020 – Afghan authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of journalist Rahmatullah Nikzad and do everything in their power to ensure that members of the press can work safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. This evening, in the central Afghan city of Ghazni, unidentified gunmen shot Nikzad, a freelance…

New York, December 10, 2020—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of journalist Malalai Maiwand in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province this morning. Maiwand, a reporter at Enikass Radio and TV in Nangarhar, was on her way to work in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, around 7 a.m. when unidentified gunmen opened fire on her vehicle,…

New York, November 12, 2020 — Afghan authorities must thoroughly investigate the car bomb attack that killed reporter Elyas Dayee and injured three others, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. This morning, a bomb attack in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, killed Dayee, a reporter with…