AFJC vehemently condemns the murder of Amanullah Attaee, urging the Afghan authorities to do whatever it takes to ensure that those responsible for these crimes are brought to justice and that journalists are able to work without fear of being targeted.
This statement was originally published on afjc.af on 30 November 2015.
The managing director of the private Asia Television Channel, Amanullah Ataee, was killed in the Karta-e-Now locality of Kabul on Sunday 29 November 2015.
Mr. Ataee was in front of his home when he was shot dead at about 9 pm local time, said the Kabul police.
According to General Faridoon Obaidi, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Kabul police HQ, Attaee’s brother-in-law Ajmal and his sister-in-law’s husband Baryalay Rahmani were detained and charged with the murder based on initial investiagtions. The gun used in the crime has been confiscated.
The assailants were drunk when police arrested them after the shooting, the police official added.
The main cause of the murder has yet to be determined, he said.
Asia TV channel recently started transmissions in the Herat, Balkh and Nangarhar provinces.
This was the second attack on a journalist in Kabul this month. On 18 November, unidentified gunmen opened fire on Salem Wahdat, the proprietor of Bokhdi News Agency, and Saiyed Helal Sadat, a reporter for News Agency. Wahdat escaped the attack but Helal sustained serious injuries and is undergoing further medical treatment at a Kabul hospital.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) vehemently condemns the murder of Amanullah Attaee, urging the Afghan authorities to do whatever it takes to ensure that those responsible for these crimes are brought to justice and that journalists are finally able to work freely and without fear of being targeted.
Amanullah became the third journalist to be killed in Afghanistan in 2015.
Fifty journalists have lost their lives over the last two decades in Afghanistan. Thirty-one of them, including the managing director of Asia TV, have been directly targeted and murdered mostly while performing their professional duties, whereas 19 others lost their lives in explosions or in armed conflicts.
