Black day for freedom of the press in Afghanistan

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), this Monday is to be seen as “a black day for the freedom of the press and for journalism in Afghanistan,” due to the violent deaths of ten journalists in Afghanistan. The human rights organization emphasized that the targeted murders must be punished as war crimes – and that those who are responsible must be tried by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. “The murders are to be seen as attacks against diversity of opinion and against democracy in Afghanistan. There must be a resolute response to defend freedom of expression,” stated Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Monday. 

“In view of these terrible crimes, the Foreign Office should finally re-evaluate the situation in Afghanistan. It is simply not credible to assert that there are safe regions in the country,” Delius said. Last Tuesday, Germany had once again deported a group of asylum seekers back to Afghanistan. “The serious attacks of the last few weeks clearly show that even the capital Kabul is no longer safe.”

Today, nine reporters and 16 other people got killed in a double bombing in Kabul. The journalists had rushed to the scene of an attack – when a terrorist, disguised as a journalist, had set off another bomb. “This is to be seen as a targeted attack against journalists. It was planned well in advance, as a means to intimidate media representatives. But Afghanistan’s free media will not be silenced! Neither the Taliban, the Islamic State, nor warlords or corrupt politicians have managed to do so,” Delius emphasized.

Another Afghan BBC-journalist was shot in Khost in the southeast of the country today, and eleven children were killed in Kandahar province in the south of the country when a bomb exploded near a Koran school.