(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on President Hamid Karzai to appeal to judicial authorities to ensure full transparency in the 2001 murder cases of four journalists. On 3 August 2004, Kabul Radio and Television (KRT) carried an interview with one of the accused killers whose existence was previously unknown. In the KRT interview, Reza Khan, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on President Hamid Karzai to appeal to judicial authorities to ensure full transparency in the 2001 murder cases of four journalists. On 3 August 2004, Kabul Radio and Television (KRT) carried an interview with one of the accused killers whose existence was previously unknown.
In the KRT interview, Reza Khan, who has been detained since June for his involvement in the killings, admitted that he killed one of the journalists. He said the gang to which he belonged attacked the four journalists in order to rob them. This contradicts an earlier theory, according to which the killings were politically motivated and carried out by the Taliban.
In its appeal for transparency, RSF called in particular for the names of all the people who have been arrested, charged or convicted in the investigation to be released.
“Justice is not being carried out in a transparent manner, and the scant information released by the authorities does not allow us to evaluate the actual progress that has been made in the investigation, which has dragged on for three years,” the organisation said.
In the KRT interview, Khan said he killed the “oldest” of the four journalists. This could be Julio Fuentes, a reporter with the Spanish daily “El Mundo”, who was 13 years older than his colleagues. He reportedly commited the murder on the orders of Zar Jan, whom he named as leader of the 12-member gang that attacked the journalists.
Khan is also alleged to have claimed that the gang took orders from a Taliban chief named Maulawi Latif, but he insisted that the motive for the attack was robbery. This contradicts the earlier verdict of an Italian Appeals Court, which got involved in the case because one of the victims, Maria Grazia Cutuli, was an Italian citizen. The court maintained that there was a political motive for the killings.
Khan is currently charged with “banditry, robbery, murder and rape” and faces the death penalty. His trial date has not been set.
The KRT interview raised many unanswered questions. The exact number of persons arrested in the course of the murder investigation remains unclear. In April 2003, the authorities announced the arrest of five suspects, two of whom had reportedly confessed their role in the killing. Since then, however, judicial officials have released no further information.
The authorities have also provided no further information about Jan, the gang’s alleged leader, or Mohammed Agha, who was earlier identified as the person who killed the Italian journalist.
When questioned by the Associated Press (AP), Afghani intelligence services investigator Abdul Fatah said Khan was arrested in June 2004 on the basis of information collected from one of his accomplices, identified only as “Mahmoud”, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the killings. However, no further information has been released about this individual, the charges against him or the circumstances of his trial.
