Nemat Rawan, former TOLOnews anchor and a media official at the Ministry of Finance, who was killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen in Kandahar on Thursday, was laid to rest in his home town in Qalat city, the center of Zabul province.
Rawan’s family asked the Afghan government, particularly security agencies, to find the perpetrators behind his murder and bring them to justice.
“The Afghan government has failed to prevent targeted killings of journalists,” said Zaman Sultani, a researcher at Amnesty International in Afghanistan.
“No one accepted responsibility of assassinations of journalists. This can be very dangerous. It paves the way for those who are against freedom of speech,” said Mujib Khalwatgar, the head of NAI.
“We hope that the perpetrators behind violence against journalist are brought to justice,” said Mirwais Bezhan, a journalist in Balkh.
Reporters without Borders expressed grave concerns over the rise in targeted killings against Afghan journalists and media workers.
“The targeted killings against journalists is a warning to the society. It is a threat to all media to force them keep silent or resort to self-censorship,” said Reza Moeeni, the head of Reporters without Borders office in Afghanistan.
Rawan’s Career
Rawan’s work with TOLOnews finished about three weeks ago after he resigned from his position and joined the Ministry of Finance as a media official.
Nemat, 28, worked with TOLOnews for four years and presented political shows.
His relatives said Rawan had gone to Kandahar 12 days ago to get his education documents. He graduated from the journalism school at Kandahar University.
His family lives in Zabul and he joined TOLOnews four years ago and presented Pashto news bulletins and political shows such as Tawde Khabare, (or "hot topics") a current affairs program on war, peace, anti-corruption, and social issues of interest to the residents of the country.
His last post on Facebook was about his new job at the Ministry of Finance.
He was often posting photos of different parts of Afghanistan on his Facebook page and wrote about the beauty of his county and his love for his nation.