KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — President Hamid Karzai led condemnation Wednesday of the killing of an Afghan journalist as his colleagues gathered to protest and expressed fear for their own lives.
Unknown attackers shot dead Jawed Ahmad late Tuesday as he drove through the centre of the southern city of Kandahar.
Ahmad, who was in his early 20s, worked for international media including Canadian TV and Iran's Press TV, and hit the headlines when he was arrested by the US military in Kandahar in 2007.
He was accused of being "an unlawful enemy combatant" and spent 11 months in custody before being released without explanation in September.
On Wednesday Ahmad's body was taken to his family in Pakistan's city of Quetta for burial, colleagues said. He had been shot in the head and chest, said one person who saw the body.
In a statement from Iran, where he is on a state visit, Karzai condemned the killing as "barbaric."
He blamed it on the "enemies of Afghanistan" -- a term officials use to refer to the Taliban and other insurgents -- but said it "cannot sabotage the move towards democracy and freedom of press in Afghanistan."
Taliban insurgents have carried out several assassinations in Kandahar but a spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, denied the group was responsible for Ahmad's death.
The government in Kandahar said it had launched an investigation to find the attackers. "At this time we can't say who they were," provincial government spokesman Zalmai Ayobi told AFP.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it hoped the killing would not go unsolved as had others, a likely reference to the murder in Helmand province in June of Abdul Samad Rohani, a 25-year-old Afghan reporter for the BBC.
The International Federation of Journalists called for a "detailed and forensic" investigation into Ahmad's killing.
About 40 journalists gathered in Kandahar Wednesday to mourn Ahmad and demanded that the government identify the killers.
Ahmad's shocked colleagues said they were worried for their own safety in the city, a heartland for the Taliban which heavily restricted the media while in government between 1996 and 2001.
"If this happens to Jawed, it can happen to any of us. I'm scared," said Aziz Ahmad, a reporter from Afghan television station Hiwad.
"It's a very sad incident," said Ismaiel Samim, who works for international media. "At the same time, it is a signal for all of us that we're not safe."
About 40 journalists also demonstrated at the information ministry in the western city of Herat and called for the killers of Ahmad, Rohani and others to be brought to justice.
"This trend will affect the freedom of speech in Afghanistan," said Ahmad Quraishi, head of the city's Journalists Protection Centre.
Media groups are also worried about the Supreme Court's decision in February to uphold a 20-year jail sentence for an Afghan reporter convicted of blasphemy, and issued statements Wednesday calling on Karzai to pardon him.
Perwiz Kambakhsh, in his early 20s, was arrested in late 2007 for allegedly insulting Islam and was sentenced to death. In October the sentence was commuted to 20 years in jail.
The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the decision had not been made public and his lawyer had found out about it only last week, the media groups' statements said.
Unknown attackers shot dead Jawed Ahmad late Tuesday as he drove through the centre of the southern city of Kandahar.
Ahmad, who was in his early 20s, worked for international media including Canadian TV and Iran's Press TV, and hit the headlines when he was arrested by the US military in Kandahar in 2007.
He was accused of being "an unlawful enemy combatant" and spent 11 months in custody before being released without explanation in September.
On Wednesday Ahmad's body was taken to his family in Pakistan's city of Quetta for burial, colleagues said. He had been shot in the head and chest, said one person who saw the body.
In a statement from Iran, where he is on a state visit, Karzai condemned the killing as "barbaric."
He blamed it on the "enemies of Afghanistan" -- a term officials use to refer to the Taliban and other insurgents -- but said it "cannot sabotage the move towards democracy and freedom of press in Afghanistan."
Taliban insurgents have carried out several assassinations in Kandahar but a spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, denied the group was responsible for Ahmad's death.
The government in Kandahar said it had launched an investigation to find the attackers. "At this time we can't say who they were," provincial government spokesman Zalmai Ayobi told AFP.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it hoped the killing would not go unsolved as had others, a likely reference to the murder in Helmand province in June of Abdul Samad Rohani, a 25-year-old Afghan reporter for the BBC.
The International Federation of Journalists called for a "detailed and forensic" investigation into Ahmad's killing.
About 40 journalists gathered in Kandahar Wednesday to mourn Ahmad and demanded that the government identify the killers.
Ahmad's shocked colleagues said they were worried for their own safety in the city, a heartland for the Taliban which heavily restricted the media while in government between 1996 and 2001.
"If this happens to Jawed, it can happen to any of us. I'm scared," said Aziz Ahmad, a reporter from Afghan television station Hiwad.
"It's a very sad incident," said Ismaiel Samim, who works for international media. "At the same time, it is a signal for all of us that we're not safe."
About 40 journalists also demonstrated at the information ministry in the western city of Herat and called for the killers of Ahmad, Rohani and others to be brought to justice.
"This trend will affect the freedom of speech in Afghanistan," said Ahmad Quraishi, head of the city's Journalists Protection Centre.
Media groups are also worried about the Supreme Court's decision in February to uphold a 20-year jail sentence for an Afghan reporter convicted of blasphemy, and issued statements Wednesday calling on Karzai to pardon him.
Perwiz Kambakhsh, in his early 20s, was arrested in late 2007 for allegedly insulting Islam and was sentenced to death. In October the sentence was commuted to 20 years in jail.
The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the decision had not been made public and his lawyer had found out about it only last week, the media groups' statements said.
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