5 June 2007
WOMAN REPORTER GUNNED DOWN
A female television reporter was shot dead last week in Afghanistan, reports the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Shokiba Sanga Amaaj, a reporter and presenter for the Pashtu-language channel, Shamshad TV, was shot by gunmen at her home on the night of 1 June.
IFJ reports that three men were arrested after they were identified by the deceased journalist's father as the killers. One of the men had repeatedly threatened Amaaj for acquiring an education and a professional skill.
Amaaj was targeted "for the simple reason that she was a prominent media figure in a milieu that remains hostile to working women," IFJ says.
The federation strongly endorses the demand by the Committee to Protect Afghan Journalists (CPAJ) and the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) that her murderers be brought to account.
Meanwhile, in Palestine, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) reports that members of Swords of Truth, an armed Islamist group, have threatened to behead women journalists of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation who do not wear strict Islamic dress.
Visit these links:
- IFJ: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=4984&Language=EN
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22414
(5 June 2007)
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