Afghanistan suffered its deadliest year on record for journalists in 2016, according to a report released today which said the country is the second most dangerous for reporters in the world after Syria.
As least 13 journalists were killed last year, the Afghan Journalists’ Safety Committee (AJSC) said, adding that the Taliban was behind at least ten of the deaths.
The committee also found 101 cases of violence against the media in 2016, a 38 percent increase on 2015, underscoring the threat against a small band of media workers who put their lives on the line to report events in their war-torn country.
“This increase in violence against journalists has turned Afghanistan into the second most dangerous country for journalists in the world, after Syria,” Najib Sharifi, chairman of the committee, told reporters on Thursday.
