١٥٠ خبريالانو هېواد کې له مجازاتو د معافيت کلتور د له منځه وړلو غوښتنه وکړه

KABUL (Pajhwok): More than 150 Afghan journalists on Thursday signed a petition paper demanding an end to the culture of impunity for crimes against journalists.

Three years back, the United Nations chose November 2 as International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists following increased violence against media workers.

According to Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), 73 journalists and media workers have been killed between 1994 and 2015 in Afghanistan and two Afghan journalists in Pakistan.

Fifty-seven percent of the victims, including 14 women, were Afghan nationals, the source said.

Mirwais Jalil was the first journalist to be killed while returning from an interview with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan leader, in Chahar Asiab district in 1994.

Four years later of this incident, Taliban killed an IRNA journalist along with a number of diplomats in an attack in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province.

Media and journalistic activities increased in Afghanistan after the US invasion in 2001, and so crimes against media workers.

Ulf Strömberg, Maria Grazia Cutuli, Azizullah Haidari, Harry Burton, Christian Struwe, Karen Fischer, Shima Rezayee, Shakiba Sanga Amaj, Ajmal Naqshbandi, Rahman Qul, Zakia Zaki, Abdul Sammad Ruhani, Javid Ahmad, Sultan Mohammad Munadi, Sayed Hamid Noori, Omaid Khpalwak, Sadam Khan Bahadorzoi and Muzammil Sadeqi were journalists who were killed after the Taliban regime.

Mohsin Hashemi, Noor Ahmad Noori, Nils Horner, Ahmad Sardar, Anja Niedringhaus, Khalid Agah Yaqobi, Palwasha Tokhi, Aqil Mohammad Weqar, Zabihullah Pashtonyar, Amanullah Atayee, Ali Mohammadi, Hussain Amiri, Jawad Hussaini, Mohammad Hussain, Mahri Azizi, Maryam Ibrahimi and Zainab Mirzayee were other journalists killed during 17 years.

Zubair Khaksar, Yaqob Sharafat, David Gilkey, Zabihullah Tamaa, Niamatullah Zahir, Nasir Mudassir, Noorullah, Faridah, Abdul Latif, Mohammad Amir, Abdul Ghani, Zainullah, Habibullah Hussainzadah, Mohammad Nazir, Aziz Nawin and Omar Arghandiwal were also among those killed.

According to AFJC, 39 journalists were killed by Taliban, 21 by illegal armed men, eight by Daesh or Islamic State (IS), three by NATO, three by the public and one by Afghan National Police.

The AFJC said nine cases of violence against journalists were addressed by the joint committee of the government and journalists supporting institutes this year. But most of the perpetrators remained at large.

On May 1 this year, AFJC launched an advocacy program for public awareness on crimes against journalists and asked journalists from different provinces to support the program.

A petition demanding end to impunity for crimes against journalists was signed by 150 journalists.

The petition also reaching the Presidential Palace and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) office calls for prioritizing cases of slain journalists killed and ending the culture of impunity.

mds/ma