Journalists in Trouble Newsletter
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INCIDENTS AND THREATS
Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to extensive investigations by Bellingcat and various Western media into the poisoning of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. During his annual news conference on December 17, Putin made the claim, without any evidence, that the media outlets were merely laundering U.S. intelligence materials. He also said that if Russian security services had wanted to poison Navalny, they would have finished the job. Also read “
Belarusian blogger Ihar Losik, who has been recognized by rights organizations as a political prisoner, has started a hunger strike to protest a new charge against him. Fellow blogger Anton Matolka said that Losik was additionally charged on December 15 with helping prepare mass disorder. Losik was initially charged in June with helping prepare for violations of public order, which has a maximum punishment of three years in prison. If found guilty of the lates
Malala is the fourth journalist to be killed in Afghanistan in 2020
KABUL: Malala Maiwand, 25, has become the fourth journalist to be killed in Afghanistan in 2020 after she was shot dead in eastern Afghanistan.
According to reports, Malala, a reporter for radio and television broadcaster Enikas, was on her way to work in Jalalabad on Thursday when unidentified gunmen opened fire on her vehicle. Her driver, Mohammad Tahir, was also killed.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said that terror group Daesh has claimed responsibility for the shooting, terming Malala a “pro-regime” journalist.
Malala, also a civil society activist, had previously spoken about the challenges of being a female journalist in the country.
Nangarhar, the large Afghan province where Maiwand lived and worked, has reeled from violence. In recent years, thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced by attacks and infighting between the Taliban and IS militants in the eastern region bordering Pakistan. The province has also been the scene of large-scale militant operations by Afghan and international troops.
After growing up in the post-Taliban Afghanistan, Maiwand opposed the return of the group’s hard-line regime and occasionally aired her fears about life under a future government following a peace deal between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
In brief comments to Radio Free Afghanistan ahead of the landmark agreement between the Taliban and the United States in February, she termed the harsh regime in the 1990s as a “dark age” for Afghan women. She said Afghans are likely to welcome the Taliban if they follow in Hizb-e Islami’s footsteps of joining the political system after a deal wi