The three female workers of the Enikas TV network were on their way home from work when they were shot in two separate attacks.
This statement was originally published on afjc.af on 2 March 2021.
Three female workers of the Enikas TV network were shot and killed in the eastern city of Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province on Tuesday 2 March 2021, the Director of the TV network said.
“They were going home from the office on foot when they were shot in two separate attacks in the Qasaba and Arabzai areas of the city,” Zalmai Latifi, the director of Enikas TV, said.
According to the network director, all three employees, Mursal Waheedi, Saadia Sadat and Shahnaz Raoufi, worked in the dubbing department for the broadcaster.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) strongly condemned the attacks.
“We are outraged at these brutal killings. We expect these heinous crimes to be investigated and perpetrators brought to justice, and we demand rigorous action [contributing] towards the safety of media employees in the field,” said AFJC Executive Director Ahmad Quraishi.
“Attacks on media employees undermine the basic human right to freedom of expression, and also the right of journalists, in particular women, to exercise a profession that is vital for Afghanistan,” he added.
AFJC data shows that 11 journalists and media workers have been killed in Afghanistan since the peace deal was signed between the United States and the Taliban in February 2020. Most of these journalists were deliberately targeted for their work, which underscores the lack of effective human rights protections in the country. Among the targeted journalists are TV presenter Malala Maiwand, who was killed on Human Rights Day on December 10, 2020, along with her driver, freelance photojournalist Rahmatullah Nikzad, who was killed in Ghazni province on December 21, 2020, and Bismillah Adel Aimaq, a radio journalist who was killed in Central Ghor province on January 1, 2021.
