25 May 2005
TV PRESENTER KILLED
Shaima Rezayee, a former television presenter for Tolo TV in Afghanistan, was shot and killed in her home in Kabul on 18 May 2005, reported the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). She was the first journalist killed in the country since 2001.
Police have not confirmed whether Rezayee's murder was related to her work as a TV presenter. They said members of Rezayee's family may have been responsible for the murder. Rezayee, 24, hosted the daily music programme "Hop", a popular show among young people but frowned upon by the country's conservative religious leaders.
Rezayee and "Hop" were both groundbreaking and controversial in a country where only four years ago women were not allowed to work, and watching television and listening to music were banned under Taliban rule, notes CPJ. The hour-long nightly show aired after the evening news, and featured music videos by Western performers and singers from Turkey, India, and Iran.
Tolo TV came under pressure on 13 March after a government panel of religious scholars known as the Ulema Council condemned the channel for broadcasting programmes "against Islam and other national values of Afghanistan." Rezayee lost her job soon after. Tolo TV is the only privately-owned broadcaster in the country.
Shakeb Isaar, another popular "Hop" presenter, said he has received death threats since the show's debut in October 2004, according to CPJ. He said he has been attacked by knife-wielding assailants and dragged from his car and beaten.
Following the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2002, women in Afghanistan have made significant strides in joining the ranks of working journalists. However, they still face barriers. In April 2004, the governor of Nangarhar Province ordered a ban - later lifted by President Hamid Karzai - on women "performing" on television and radio - including reporting the news - on the grounds that it was "un-Islamic."
Visit:
- RSF:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13827- IFJ:
http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=3141&Language=EN- CPJ Report on Afghanistan:
http://www.cpj.org/attacks04/asia04/afghan.html- Human Rights Watch:
http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=afghan- Internews:
http://www.internews.org/publications/afghan_news_free_05.html- BBC Feature on Afghanistan's Future:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2004/afghanistan- CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/20/afghan.tv.ap/index.html