Kabul – A Female Journalist Murdered
Funeral of Zakia Zaki. Photo credit: Safiya Saifi (Pajhwok Afghan News) Today I was struck when a female colleague told me that one of her good friends, a female journalist, was shot to death by mysterious gunmen. Zakia Zaki, director of a radio company, was killed a night before on her own bed. It was scary news. Just about a week before, May 31, 2007, a popular Shamshad TV female news presenter, Sanga Amach, 22 years old, was shot to death. The actual motive and suspects remained mysterious. ‘Honor killing’ was among the possible motives. An honour killing is a murder, nearly exclusively of a woman, who has been perceived as having brought dishonor to her family. The killings are typically perpetrated by the victim’s own relatives or community. Such killings are often regarded as a “private matter” for the affected family alone, and courts rarely become involved or prosecute the perpetrators. Being a journalist in Afghanistan is comparatively dangerous. [read more]