CPJ
Washington, D.C., February 17, 2020 -- Pakistan authorities should take swift action to launch a thorough and credible investigation into the murder of journalist Aziz Memon, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Memon, who worked for the privately-owned Sindhi TV channel KTN News and the Sindhi-language Daily Kawish newspaper, was found strangled to death in an irrigation ditch yesterday near the town of Mehrabpur in the Naushahro Feroze District of Sindh province, according to news reports.
“The tragic murder of Aziz Memon deserves swift justice, which is something Pakistani authorities have repeatedly failed to deliver for journalists,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler. “Given the victim’s previous allegations of threats from local officials, it is essential that the investigation be free from political meddling.”
Months earlier, Memon released a video, now circulating on Twitter, in which he said officials of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party and local police had threatened him over his reporting. His reporting included allegations that individuals were paid to attend a widely publicized 2019 “train march,” in which PPP Chair Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stopped at train stations to give speeches. The PPP is the dominant political party of Sindh province.
Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s federal minister for science and technology and the former information minister, called in a Twitter post for the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the case, and for the Federal Investigation Agency to investigate the murder.
PPP Chair Bhutto Zardari issued a statement condemning the murder and called for a swift and impartial investigation. An email sent to the PPP asking for comment about the allegations against the party was not immediately answered.
Naushahro Feroze Senior Superintendent of Police Mohammad Farooq told CPJ that police were interrogating three individuals in connection with the murder. He added that while Memon had complained about police threats a year ago, Memon did not report any threat to police in the last six months.
Journalists in Sindh have been protesting for months against what they have called abuse by police, as CPJ reported in December. Pakistan ranked 8th on CPJ’s 2019 Global Impunity Index, with 16 unsolved killings of journalists in the past 10 years. Of the 34 journalists who were murdered for their work since 1992, when CPJ began keeping detailed records, partial justice has been achieved in only three cases, according to CPJ research
Pakistan Urged To Bring Journalist's Killers To Justice
February 17, 2020By RFE/RL
An employee of a local television channel shows a picture of slain journalist Aziz Memon on his mobile, after a demonstration to condemn his killing, in Hyderabad on February 17,
International media freedom watchdogs are urging Pakistani authorities to ensure that the killing of a journalist whose body was found in an irrigation waterway does not go unpunished.
Aziz Memon’s body was found with wire tied around the neck on February 16 near his hometown of Mehrabpur, in the southwestern province of Sindh. The initial investigation suggested he was strangled to death before his body was thrown into the canal.
In a statement on February 17, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the “murder…deserves swift justice, which is something Pakistani authorities have repeatedly failed to deliver for journalists.”
A reporter for KTN TV and the newspaper Kawish, which are owned by Pakistan’s largest Sindhi-language media group, Memon is the first Pakistani journalist to be killed this year, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). It said four Pakistani journalists and a blogger were killed last year in connection with their reporting.
Memon was last seen when he set off on February 15 to do some reporting in the nearby locality of Behlani.
The Paris-based RSF quoted fellow journalist Akhlaiq Jokhiyo as saying that both he and Memon’s wife believed he was targeted in connection with his reporting.
Months ago, Memon released a video message saying he was receiving threats for his coverage of a news story.
The threats seem to have been triggered by his coverage of the so-called Train March, a campaign of protests and rallies organized nearly a year ago by the opposition Pakistan Peoples’ Party, according to RSF.
Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, urged Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to do “everything possible” to ensure that those responsible for the killing are brought to justice.
Meanwhile, the federal government and parliament should “quickly finalize a law protecting journalists and combatting impunity, in order to rein in the spiral of violence against media personnel,” Bastard said.
“Given the victim’s previous allegations of threats from local officials, it is essential that the investigation be free from political meddling,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler.
Pakistan ranked 8th on CPJ’s 2019 Global Impunity Index, with 16 unsolved killings of journalists in the past 10 years.
Of the 34 journalists who were murdered for their work since 1992, partial justice has been achieved in only three cases, according to the watchdog.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal
International media freedom watchdogs are urging Pakistani authorities to ensure that the killing of a journalist whose body was found in an irrigation waterway does not go unpunished.
Aziz Memon’s body was found with wire tied around the neck on February 16 near his hometown of Mehrabpur, in the southwestern province of Sindh. The initial investigation suggested he was strangled to death before his body was thrown into the canal.
In a statement on February 17, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the “murder…deserves swift justice, which is something Pakistani authorities have repeatedly failed to deliver for journalists.”
A reporter for KTN TV and the newspaper Kawish, which are owned by Pakistan’s largest Sindhi-language media group, Memon is the first Pakistani journalist to be killed this year, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). It said four Pakistani journalists and a blogger were killed last year in connection with their reporting.
Memon was last seen when he set off on February 15 to do some reporting in the nearby locality of Behlani.
The Paris-based RSF quoted fellow journalist Akhlaiq Jokhiyo as saying that both he and Memon’s wife believed he was targeted in connection with his reporting.
Months ago, Memon released a video message saying he was receiving threats for his coverage of a news story.
The threats seem to have been triggered by his coverage of the so-called Train March, a campaign of protests and rallies organized nearly a year ago by the opposition Pakistan Peoples’ Party, according to RSF.
Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, urged Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to do “everything possible” to ensure that those responsible for the killing are brought to justice.
Meanwhile, the federal government and parliament should “quickly finalize a law protecting journalists and combatting impunity, in order to rein in the spiral of violence against media personnel,” Bastard said.
“Given the victim’s previous allegations of threats from local officials, it is essential that the investigation be free from political meddling,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler.
Pakistan ranked 8th on CPJ’s 2019 Global Impunity Index, with 16 unsolved killings of journalists in the past 10 years.
Of the 34 journalists who were murdered for their work since 1992, partial justice has been achieved in only three cases, according to the watchdog.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal
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