Rights report details threats to journalists in Afghanistan
Afraid of losing his radio show, Aqel Mohammad Waqar refused to tell anyone about the threatening calls and messages he received for his unvarnished reports on the conflict in Afghanistan.
The 19-year-old had only been with Spinghar Radio in his native Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan for two years and worried that discussing the threats publicly would endanger him further or cost him his job.
By the time his employers found out he was at risk, it was too late.
On Jan. 16, unidentified gunmen shot Waqar and two family members after they returned from a wedding to their home in the village of Hajian. His death made him the first Afghan journalist to be killed in 2015.
According to a new Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday, his case illustrates the growing number of dangers faced by Afghan journalists. Eight journalists were killed in 2014, a 63% increase from the previous year.
The sources of the danger are manifold, the group said. They include government officials bullying reporters and editors into not covering controversial topics, Taliban insurgents threatening violence to force favorable reporting, and law enforcement officials letting assaults and killings go unpunished.
Afghan journalists face threats from all sides, the group said in the 45-page report.
Although no group claimed responsibility for Waqars death, Sher Bahadur Hemat, his boss at Spinghar Radio, said his critiques of the Taliban which has been active in his area for years would have made him a target of the insurgents.
Aside from Taliban, there was no one else who could have done it. He had no enemies, Hemat said.
After an attack on a Kabul high school late last year, the Taliban for the first time placed Afghan journalists directly in their cross hairs, warning that they would target any media, civil society or other organizations that attend or publish anti-Islam programs.
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Rights report details threats to journalists in Afghanistan