2016 already deadliest year for journalists in Afghanistan

Afghan men carry the coffin of a relative who died in a militant attack at a Shiite shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016. AP

KABUL, Afghanistan  — Media advocates say that 2016 has already proved the deadliest year for journalists in Afghanistan.

Najib Sharifi, the head of the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, said Wednesday that at least 11 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year, the highest annual death toll on record.

AJSC figures show that over 60 journalists have been killed in the past 16 years in Afghanistan. Sharifi says their deaths were never investigated.

The figure includes journalists killed in conflict, targeted by unknown gunmen or murdered.

The AJSC is demanding that the Afghan government ends the culture of impunity surrounding journalist deaths. It warns that otherwise the country will lose its vibrant local media, one of Afghanistan’s greatest achievements since the 2001 fall of the Taliban. TVJ