Afghanistan

2016

  

Journalist killings ease from record highs as murders down, combat deaths up

Deadly violence against the media eased in 2016 from recent record levels as the number of journalists singled out for murder declined. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser and Elisabeth Witchel

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President François Hollande speaks at the opening of the Open Government Partnership summit in Paris in December, where press freedom was added to the agenda. (Jacky Naegelen/Pool/AFP)

Press freedom on OGP agenda as authoritarianism rises

There was poignancy to the Paris summit of the Open Government Partnership, as leaders from government and civil society took the stage to defend a political ideology under siege: liberal democracy. French President François Hollande, who amid weak public support announced he will not seek re-election in 2017, called democracy “so fragile and so precious.”…

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TV reporter killed in Afghanistan

New York, November 4, 2016–Naimatullah Zaheer, a reporter with the Afghan private television station Ariana News, was killed by roadside bomb today in the southern province of Helmand.

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Getting Away With Murder

CPJ’s 2016 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free By Elisabeth Witchel, CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant Published October 27, 2016. Some of the highest rates of impunity in the murders of journalists can be attributed to killings by Islamist militant groups, CPJ found in its latest Global Impunity…

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Radio journalist killed in Afghanistan

New York, October 17, 2016 — Afghan authorities should credibly investigate yesterday’s fatal shooting of a radio journalist in Qalat and swiftly bring all those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Police and firefighters are seen at the site of a suicide blast in Kabul on June 20, 2016. Several journalists were obstructed from reporting at the scene. (Reuters/Mirwais Harooni)

By now, Afghan authorities should know media are not the enemy

Several journalists in Kabul–the exact number is unclear–were beaten, harassed, and kept from working by security forces when they rushed to cover a suicide bombing on Monday that killed 14 people and wounded more than eight. In an email message, the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), an organization with which we work closely, said when…

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Two NPR journalists killed in Afghanistan

New York, June 5, 2016 – Afghan interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna and American photographer David Gilkey were killed today while traveling in a military convoy in southern Afghanistan, according to their employer, U.S. public broadcaster NPR. The two were traveling with an Afghan army unit near Marjah, in Helmand province, when the convoy came under attack.

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Tolo TV news director Lotfullah Najafizada, pictured second left in the Kabul newsroom, says staff remain committed to journalism despite the threats and risk of attack. (Reuters/Ahmad Masood)

‘We are at a critical juncture,’ Tolo TV’s head of news says after bomb kills seven

For people outside of Afghanistan, the January 20 attack on the Tolo TV van, which killed seven people and wounded about two dozen more staffers, was just one more horrendous event in a series of bombings, military skirmishes, attacks, counter attacks, and standoffs around the country. The attack was widely reported but, for outside observers,…

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The brother of a Tolo TV employee killed in a suicide attack on Kabul television station weeps at his funeral, January 26, 2016 (Reuters/Ahmad Masood).

Growing fears as more Afghan journalists and media workers come under the gun

New York, February 1, 2016 — The fatal shooting of senior Afghan broadcast journalist Mohammad Zubair Khaksar on Friday and the beating of freelance reporter Yahya Jawahari on Sunday further raise concerns for the safety of Afghan journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The attacks follow a suicide bombing attack on employees of…

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Afghan security forces examine the wreckage of a vehicle carrying Tolo TV employees in Kabul. A suicide attack on the minivan killed six staff and injured more than 25. (AFP/Shah Marai)

CPJ condemns attack on Tolo TV employees in Afghanistan

New York, January 20, 2016–A suicide bombing in Kabul today killed seven employees from the Afghan station Tolo TV, according to news reports and the station. The attack on staff returning from work at the privately owned station injured 27 others, including 26 staff, according to Tolo TV. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the…

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2016