Afghanistan Times
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By Akhtar M. Nikzad-KABUL: Amid increasing violations against journalists and media workers, second vice president, Mohammad Sarwar Danish ordered governmental to establish a joint committee to prosecute the dossiers of slain reporters.
In the cabinet meeting held Sunday, Danish criticized judiciary organs for delay in prosecution of killed journalists’ dossiers.
The National Journalist Unity said in a statement that the cabinet took decision to prosecute the dossiers of murdered journalists through establishment of a joint committee.
The statement added that Danish ordered to ministries of interior, culture, Attorney General Office and National Directorate of Security to prosecute the violations against journalists.
According to the statement, the committee would start to work in the next week and media supporting bodies will contribute in evaluation of violations against journalists.
The government said that the committee will assess all dossiers of the slain journalists and the violations cases against media workers as its first step and would present its report to the cabinet meeting.
Culture minister reported the cabinet about the number of violations against journalists.
The report had mentioned 625 cases of violations against reporters and said that 59 journalists were killed in the past 15 years.
Nai, the body working in support of open media in Afghanistan welcomed government’s decision for prosecution of violations against journalists and vowed to closely cooperate with prosecution committee to assess the cases transparently.
Ahmad Nawid, a local journalist said: “There was no strong determination in the judiciary organs for prosecution of violations against journalists.”
He remarked that many cases of violations were left without assessment in the judiciary organs in the past six years, resulting to dissatisfaction of the civil society.
“We hope the committee can follow all the dossiers of violations against journalists and the violators should be punished based on the criminal law,” he asserted.
Abdul Mujib Khilwatgar, Chief of the Nai said that the judiciary organs and police had not done their responsibilities regarding violation against journalists.
He stressed that the newly formed prosecution Committee would pave the ground for assessment of the violation cases against journalists and would create hope for journalists to work without fear and horror.
