In Afghanistan, press freedom is threatened. Journalists are killed and especially women are exposed. One morning when reporter Hasina Shirzad was going to work, the car she was in was blown up by Taliban. Hasina is one of the commentators during the Afghanistan Week on Youtube.
The Afghanistan Week is a collaboration between Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue, The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Chr. Michelsens Institute (CMI) and the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee.
She was 22 years old when the attack took place. Hasina had just finished her journalism studies at the University of Kabul. At the same time she worked as a journalist. Taliban had placed a bomb under the car she was in. Two lost their lives. Hasina was badly injured and was lucky to survive.
Her mother decided to sell assets for her daughter to flee the country where the media industry is constantly threatened with murder, and where women in particular are vulnerable.
-I can only guess, I can not know for sure why they chose to attack me. A woman working in Afghanistan will always be a goal, and often an easy goal. The fact that I also worked for an election commission may have been part of the picture, says Hasina.
In 2018, as many as 15 journalists and employees in the media industry were killed – the deadliest year since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. In addition, many live with threats, not only from Taliban, but also from IS, local warlords and corrupt politicians.
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