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AFJC annual report names 2020 as the bloodiest year for journalists in Afghanistan

Sunday, 03 January 2021 8:46 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 03 January 2021 9:03 PM ]

Amin Alemi

Press TV, kabul

Media workers and journalists face an alarming rise in violence in Afghanistan. Media staff like Najib who is a cameraman and video editor, say the situation is too fragile and media family is facing serious threats.

He says, they even cannot easily get out of their houses due to rising targeted killings and kidnappings of journalists and even their family members. In December, the only female TV host in eastern Afghanistan was assassinated along with her driver while she was going to her office in Jalalabad, the capital city of Nangarhar province.

The rise in targeted killings, amid US-brokered peace talks between Taliban militants and the Afghan government, has prompted many media rights groups to react and express their concern over the issue. They say the situation has made things too difficult for journalists to do their work without fear of losing their lives.

Official figures show 2020 saw a sharp rise in targeted killings of journalists and security threats against them. Afghanistan Journalists Center" has documented 112 cases of violence against journalists including killings, insults and threats in 2020, most of them over the last two months of the year.

Nowadays, being a journalist in Afghanistan is a big risk and could cost your life. There are the pictures of my colleagues who lost their lives in separate terrorist attacks in Kabul in the past years. I hope to be alive and see a day when no journalist faces security threats in Afghanistan.

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