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Attack on Hazara Writers, Journalists, Artists and Activists

Kamran Mir Hazar — 2025-05-20T12:57:00Z

As we mark Hazara Culture Day, a day to celebrate the deep roots, creativity, and heart of the Hazara people, we also remember the writers, journalists, artists, and activists who have faced attacks and threats. Their voices keep hope alive, shining through the danger. Today, we honor both the culture and the brave spirit that holds it strong.

In recent years, dozens of Hazara writers, journalists, artists and activists were #killed, injured, detained, jailed and #abducted by the government, warlords and terrorist groups.
The Hazara are a Turkic people, and descendants of the Kushans. Mongol influences are present in 10% of the Hazara. Hazara people live primarily in several Central Asian countries such as Hazaristan (Afghanistan), Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and India. Millions of Hazara people throughout history have been forced to leave their original homeland— today called Hazaristan (Afghanistan). Hundreds of thousands of Hazara have settled as refugees and political asylees in Europe, the Americas, and Australia.

An Unpublished Article about Islam and Buddhism Costs Zaman Ahmadi 20 Years Jail

Kabul Press - Investigative News & Analysis — 2019-09-06T05:37:22Z

Official Court Papers

Kabul Press^?. His name is Zaman Ahmadi. He is married and has two children. Zaman is Hazara, and as a Hazara, he has a historical and cultural link to the Buddhas of Bamyan, Hazaristan, that were bombed and destroyed by Pashtun Taliban in March 2001.
Seven years ago, Zaman Ahmadi wrote an article about Islam and Buddhism. The article was not published, but somehow the prosecutors got to know about it. They persecute Zaman Ahmadi, and the court sentenced him twice, 20 years for apostacy/ blasphemy and 20 more years for insulting Islam. Finally, the court decided to punish him to the highest sentence of those two charges, which is 20 years in jail in this case.
It is now seven years that Zaman Ahmadi is in prison, and according to the court he should be in prison for 13 more years.

Official Court Papers

Connectivity of online and offline activism

Zafar Shayan — 2016-09-05T19:55:49Z

The role of the internet and social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in promoting effective civic activism has been a major topic of debate in the Social Sciences. Indeed, it is argued that civic activities organized through social media have played roles in the processes of democratization in various cases around the world. The role of social media in different social movements such as the Arab Spring, the anti-finance and occupy movements in EU and the US, the 2013 Brazilian protests, Gezi protests in Turkey, and different public protests in Mexico are just a few of the cases explored within the scholarly contexts (Castells, 2014). This article discusses the way citizens organize civic actions and use social media in their collective activities. The question that is sought to be answered here is why some social collective actions are ineffective despite their widespread use of social media and relatively suitable social and political contexts.

Here the article will argue that synchronicity and connectivity between online and offline activism can be a factor that promotes the effectiveness of civic activism. In this sense, it is worth noting that effective civic activity is seen in the extensive participation of people in a collective activity that becomes publicly recognized and increasingly influences public opinion.

Two forms of civic activism: online and offline

Basically, civic activism denotes the process by which private citizens and collectives try to bring about changes to their social lives. Put differently, individuals, groups, or organizations engage in collective actions to change their current situation by way of advocacy, volunteering, signing petitions, protesting, etc. Staveren and Hoeven (2012) define civic activism as “the social norms, organizations and practice, which facilitate greater citizen involvements in public policies and decisions”. Individuals, groups, or organizations who are motivated to effect change, work to concertize such change, and actively take part in social actions as organizers, spokespeople, or contact persons can be deemed as activists. Online activism specifically refers to the utilization of the internet, especially online social network platforms, with the aim of realizing the aims of civic activities.
Civic activities vary in type as well as degree of importance. A civic action can take the form of a basic public awareness campaign or a revolutionary attempt to change the political system of a country. Some collective civic actions can be organized more easily than others, such as public awareness campaigns or efforts to draw public response to an emergency situation. This can be observed, for example, in the ease with which a blood donation campaign was organized on Facebook after a devastating bomb explosion in the capital city of Afghanistan on April 19, 2016. As the number of those wounded in the attack rose to 347, Facebook users started an emergency campaign calling for people to donate blood to assist victims. Illustrating the success of this campaign, one hospital, only a few hours after the attack posted a sign on its wall stating that “there is enough blood. Thanks to those who have come here to donate”. Such blood donation campaigns don't require an organized meeting of individuals or careful planning on the part of civil society organizations, and it could even be argued that if such campaigns were to be organized and carried out offline, volunteer turnout would suffer. Other civic activities that are executed entirely online can also prove very successful, as illustrated by the viral “ice bucket challenge” that sought to raise awareness of the disease ALS and fund its research.

Yet aside from these success stories other civic activities that strive to bring about larger, systematic change by way of advocacy, anti-corruption protests, or political movements, for example, prove more difficult to pursue through online action alone. In these cases, it is argued that lack of leadership, propensity to diversion, misinformation, and limited access to the internet are the main reasons why these on-line campaigns are inclined to fail or rendered ineffective. Because of this, it is often asserted that traditional forms of off-line activism serve as a complement to online activism.

Shortcomings of online activism

Firstly, lack of leadership and trust among involved activists is one of the aspects of online activism that makes it vulnerable in terms of effective organization. Civic activism is not something that can be planned by scattered posts or comments on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platforms. It is clear that initial steps need to be taken by individual activists, groups, or civil society organizations in initiating and giving shape to online campaigns or any social collective actions. Importantly, as Diana (2000) and Ribeiro (1998) found, face-to-face interactions are considered to be more effective and valuable than virtual-only ties when it comes to mobilizing and sustaining social movements (qtd. in Harlow, 2011). Moreover, because of the possibility that and internet user's online identity does not always coincide with his or her off-line identity, in addition to the existence of anonymous accounts, it is not easy to build trust among those participating in an activity on social media. Considering this, face-to-face meetings establish the leadership of an event and the logistical groundwork for the action function to build trust, and thereby complement on-line activity by reducing the risks of diversion and disorganization.

Secondly, as social media, although not equally, provides space for everyone, the risk of misinformation being spread about a particular civic action is higher than it is in the offline world. This is because individuals with anonymous accounts boasting fake identities, governments, religious radicals, and criminal groups all use online social media platforms to promote their interests and discredit what they may see as threatening. Within this framework, El-Nawawy and Khamis point to the case of the 2009 Iranian protests as illustrative of this type of risk. Here, Iranian government authorities spread misinformation about protestors and the movement they were involved in by way of different internet tools such as blogs and Twitter. The government labeled the protests as anti-Islam and as a conspiracy to disrupt the national unity of Iran, aiming to foment disapproval of the protests among the religious masses of the country. Under such circumstances the protests spread to but a few major cities. Because of a lack of leadership and ineffective offline organization, the protestors failed to counteract the propaganda and attract widespread public support. Nevertheless, Twitter provided the opportunity for Iranian protestors to share their opinions and commence a form of protest against what they saw as an authoritarian government.

Thirdly, limited access to the internet is another issue faced by online activism. According to the UN's 2015 report on the state of broadband internet, about 43% of the world's population has regular access to the internet. Indeed, a high percentage of regular internet users are citizens of developed countries, however, the number of regular internet users living in less developed or developing countries is much lower. For instance, there are about 1.9 million regular internet users in Afghanistan, which constitutes only about 5.9% of the country's population according to the CIA World Factbook (2014). Within these countries, people with higher quality of life and level of education ten to have greater access to the internet. The lower classes of these societies are therefore less likely to participate in online civic actions. Thus, the mobilization of lower or working classes requires practical actions, possibly even realized through door to door communication. Here, the “Movement of Justice for Shukira” in Afghanistan serves as a good example of how online and offline civic activities can be synchronized and connected for greater effect in countries with populations that have limited access to the internet.

“Shukria Tabassum” was a 9 year old girl from the Jaghori district of Ghazni, Afghanistan who was kidnapped and beheaded by local Taliban terrorists in Zabul along with six other individuals from the Hazara community including two women on November 8, 2015. As soon as the news of the incident broke, Facebook users shared the story among their networks and reacted in the virtual space. Then they applied their outrage in the physical world, with a large number of people mobilizing to join a protest in Ghazni and preventing the burial of the victims' bodies there. Instead the bodies were redirected by thousands of people to the capital of Kabul. In the next step, youth activists, representatives of civil society organizations, and other community influencers planned a public protest the next day in Kabul. On Nov 11, 2015 close to one million people marched through the streets of the capital to condemn terrorism and the inaction of the government. During the demonstration, those who had access to the internet posted photos, videos, and reports from the streets.

As the result of these online and offline activities, the “Movement of Justice for Shukria” spread to all parts of Afghanistan and around the world. Throughout this time, hundreds of protests, speeches, and candlelight vigils were held in memory of the brutally murdered 9 year old Shukria inside and outside of the country. Eventually the movement gained such global popular support that it was renamed the “International Movement of Justice for Shukria” on Facebook. The key point of this movement's success was its efficacy building online and offline networks that bolstered the formation and implementation of this regular, nonviolent action and prevented widespread proliferation of misinformation.

As a final word, it can be concluded that online posts, comments, and shares alone are undoubtedly not enough to set up and realize an effective civic activity. Virtual and physical activism are complementary of one another, and as Van de Donk (2004) notes, online activism complements not replaces traditional forms of activism (qtd. in Harlow, 2011). Therefore, a civic activity with specific demands and a purpose to create societal change requires proper planning and effective mobilization of people from different classes by way of both, online and offline means, the fruits of these labors can then be reflected via social media to attract further national and international support.

References:
Castells, E. (2014). The impact of the internet on society: a global perspective. Retrieved from www.bbvaopenmind.com
CIA, (2014). Fact Book https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html
El-Nawawy, M. & Khamis, S. (2012). Political activism 2.0: Comparing the role of social media in Egypt's “Facebook Revolution” and Iran's “Twitter Uprising”. Cyber Orient Online Journal of the Virtual Middle, 6(1)
Harlow, S. (2012). Social media and social movements: Facebook and online Guatemalan justice movement that moved offline. New Media & Society, 14(2), 225-243.
Morozov, E. (2012). The net delusion: The dark side of Internet freedom. PublicAffairs.
UN. (2015). The State of Broadband 2015. Retrieved from www.broadbandcommission.org
Van Staveren, I. & van der Hoeven, R. (2012). Global Trends in Labor Market Inequalities, Exclusion, Insecurity and Civic Activism.

Source: JTW

Poetry, Online Security and Afghan Cyber Terrorists!

Kamran Mir Hazar — 2015-04-03T18:01:35Z

It is midnight here; most of my friends are sleeping. I should write a poem now, but I am not doing this. I sit in front of my computer, enjoying my drink, and checking Kabul press^? website for any possible security hole. I read somewhere that PHP is poetry. I am not a good PHP expert, but I like this that PHP is poetry. Looking between PHP files, going through yum update, netstat commands and setting strong passwords, why? Some Afghan cyber terrorists want to attack kabulpress.org. They have already sent a huge amount of spam, emails containing Trojans, spywares and keyloggers. They sent me lots of friend requests on facebook using fake accounts with profile picture of beautiful naked girls. They also tried to shut down Kabul Press server using synflood methods. Thanks hackers of csf firewall, spamhaus founders and thanks linux people. They do their best for human being history today.

Back to yum, loaded plugins: fastestmirror, rhnplugin, Afghan cyber terrorists say: “Secret Files from ‪#‎Kabulpress‬ Will be Leaked Soon”. That is very interesting. I have a full backup on my local computer. Just come! I am a poet, a journalist and someone who likes PuTTy.

I have many documents of corruption and human rights violations by Afghan high rankings. I will be happy if you can distribute them.

Actually, I did not know if I like PHP, yum and PuTTy first, but I had to bypass censorship.

Oh, a friend from Mexico is online. Will catch you later. Bye.

Afghanistan: Media Under Attack

Human Rights Watch — 2015-01-21T10:00:44Z

Kabul) – Violence and threats against Afghanistan's journalists by the government and security forces are increasing, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. These attacks put at risk the gains in media freedom in Afghanistan since 2001.

The 48-page report, “‘Stop Reporting or We'll Kill Your Family': Threats to Media Freedom in Afghanistan,” documents harassment, intimidation, and attacks on journalists and the Afghan government's failure to investigate and prosecute those responsible. The failure to protect journalistic freedom has emboldened those determined to suppress criticism of the government, the security forces, and other powerful entities in Afghan society. The Taliban insurgency has greatly contributed to the climate of fear by explicitly targeting journalists for reporting deemed unfavorable. The government should act decisively to end the violence and intimidation, and the Taliban should end its attacks on civilian organizations, including the media.

“Afghan officials, warlords, and insurgents have threatened, assaulted, and killed dozens of journalists since 2002 without any fear of prosecution,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director. “President Ashraf Ghani needs to back-up his campaign promises to protect media freedom by bringing to justice anyone who abuses members of the press.”

Increasing intimidation and violence from both state and non-state figures combined with a lack of government protection and waning international support are jeopardizing media freedom in Afghanistan. In its most recent report, the Afghan media advocacy organization Nai stated that 2014 had been the most violent year on record for journalists in Afghanistan, with attacks up by 64 percent from 2013. Afghan government and foreign donor support for the fragile gains in media freedom since 2001 will be particularly important in the post-2014 period when most foreign military forces will have withdrawn from the country.

Human Rights Watch conducted more than 30 interviews with journalists, editors, publishers, and media directors in Afghanistan. Afghan journalists indicated that they often respond to the threats, intimidation, and violence with self-censorship. Many steer clear of reporting on sensitive issues – including corruption, land grabbing, violence against women, and human rights abuses.

“The governor told me in the presence of everyone: ‘Why have you reported on this? … You have no right to report it. I will imprison you. Your life is nothing to me,'” said a journalist from Paktika province who had reported on an attack on an Afghan security base that killed two officers. “It's been 12 or 13 months since the threats and I am afraid even when I go home.”

Journalists working outside the country's main cities are especially vulnerable to reprisals from powerful individuals and groups because they lack the protection provided by larger Afghan media organizations and international presence. Cultural and social conservatism also contributes to the difficulty of reporting on controversial issues.

Throughout 2014, the Taliban have explicitly threatened the media, most recently in the group's December 13 statement that journalists seen as supporting “Western values” would be targeted for attack. The Taliban and other insurgent groups have also used the media as a propaganda platform, and actively court the media in their campaign against the government, including pressuring reporters to cover their statements or not write articles deemed critical.

Female journalists face particularly formidable challenges. Social and cultural restrictions limit their mobility in urban as well as rural areas, and increase their vulnerability to threats and attacks, including sexual violence.

President Ghani had pledged during his election campaign that he would drop all politically motivated and unsubstantiated charges against journalists. He and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah also committed to upholding freedom of expression and protecting journalists against abuse.

Ghani should publicly condemn all attacks on journalists and media organizations, and ensure that attacks on journalists are promptly investigated and those responsible for abuse prosecuted. Lack of effective complaint mechanisms and compliance with media laws and regulations remains a substantial hurdle to media freedom. The new government should work with Afghan journalists, media organizations, and media monitoring groups to establish a mechanism for journalists to report on all such attacks.

“Reforming the law would be a vital step in ensuring that Afghan journalists can do their jobs,” Kine said. “But Afghanistan's new government will need to address the security threats from all sides before journalists will have confidence that they can go to work without risking their lives.”

Two Cartoons in Defense of Cartoon and Cartoonist

2015-01-08T22:30:56Z

Please order to unban Kabul Press websites in Iran: open letter from Kabul Press editor to President of Iran

Kamran Mir Hazar — 2013-09-27T21:35:06Z

Dear President,

Since December 2009, Kabul Press^? website (www.kabulpress.org) and its mirror website have been banned and filtered in Iran. Thousands of our readers and thousands of these, who are potentially our leaders, do not have free access to Kabul Press. Having free access to information and sources is the right all humans. Like people outside of Iran, Iranians have also right to have access to Kabul Press.
According to your word during your presidential campaign and after that, I ask you to order removing Kabul Press websites filter in Iran.
Regards

Kamran Mir Hazar
Kabul Press Editor-in-chief and Publisher

Taliban tactics against journalist by North Carolina police

Robert Maier — 2013-08-18T18:09:03Z

I was disturbed by a story today covering reporter Tim Funk's arrest in the Raleigh, North Carolina Capitol Building last June 10. As English Pages editor of Kabulpress.org, I am very familiar with illegal treatment of journalists. I work with a dozen journalists from Afghanistan who have been threatened, beaten, given death sentences for their writings, and jailed for months. Several were murdered because of their professional work. All of these actions are forbidden by statutes and the Afghan constitution, yet they occur with terrible regularity. Tim's arrest is a warning that similar things could happen here.

In the past few days, several journalists were killed in Egypt, and today's Observer also detailed threats from officials against two women McClatchy reporters there.
This is a serious issue, and while, perhaps, journalists and publishers in the US feel safer than their counterparts in Afghanistan and Egypt, the problem, even in North Carolina, may be more severe than it appears in your story. Also, the remedy you seek may be woefully insufficient.

For example, noted journalist, Amy Goodman, editor of Democracy Now, and several of her reporting team were arrested at the 2008 RNC convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul. They were roughly handled, slightly injured, and jailed for many hours with no outside contact allowed. A judge dismissed all charges.
Goodman and her colleagues sued the local authorities, won the case, and were awarded $100,000 in damages. The judge ordered the police departments to institute a training course to instruct officers in first amendment rights, and how to legally treat journalists during demonstrations.

Perhaps Tim and The Observer should proceed in the same way.
It's amazing that your attorney, Wade Smith said only, "It seemed to me that they cast a net and caught someone they shouldn't have. It may be that they just weren't thinking about it." Nice, polite thought, but I watched the video several times, and Funk's arrest was personally conducted by Police Chief Jeff Weaver, who was fully informed of Funk's occupation, and blatantly ignored it in a peaceful, non-threatening situation.

Wade's second quote "(he) hopes in the future that they will realize a journalist has a very important role to play," sounds like kindergarten teacher sending a child to a corner for quiet time. If the Chief of Police acts like an ignorant rookie cop, he should be soundly disciplined or replaced. To ensure public trust, excessive and illegal police action must be called out and corrected.

You say you and the NCPA "stand ready to meet" with the legislature police. That's a good step, but sounds mighty weak response to the actions of people like Police Chief Weaver. I hope that you, Tim, and the Observer will take the same steps that Amy Goodman did to protect the First Amendment, and file a suit to protect you and all other NC journalists. You must do more than write an article an "stand ready to meet." Those solutions did not go very far in Minneapolis, as the judge there plainly agreed, with his financial penalty and instructional orders.

Prison Sentences Awarded for Murderers of Journalist

2013-08-15T07:41:18Z

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes the prison terms of sixteen years handed down by a local court in Nijrab district of the eastern Afghan province of Kapisa, to the two accused in the murder of journalist Muhsin Hashami.

According to information received from the Afghan Independent Journalists' Association, an IFJ affiliate, Hashami went missing from his home in Nijrab district on May 2 this year. His body was found eighteen days later in a well near his home, bearing stab and bullet wounds.

Accepting the evidence led by the prosecution in the case, a local court convicted the two accused in the case to sixteen years' imprisonment.

Muhsin Hashami was working with Sadai Nijrab, a local FM radio station at the time of his death.

The IFJ welcomes this verdict as a substantive measure to dispel the climate of impunity in Afghanistan and calls on the authorities to provide all necessary protection to the slain journalist's family, which apprehends a possible threat from associates of the two convicted men.

Sahar Parniyan lives in fear after a TV actress was murdered in Kabul

Mohammad Amin Wahidi — 2012-08-25T23:19:18Z

Sahar Parniyan the prominent Afghanistani Hazara actress said that she lives in fear after the suspicious murder of a TV actress in Kabul.

Benafsha a 22 year old TV actress was mysteriously killed west of Kabul on Monday August 20th while well-known Hazara actress Sahar Parniyan was also threatened with murder at the same time by unknown persons. The victim, Benafsha, was stabbed to death by unknown people, it is believed, because she appeared in a TV drama on Imroz TV.

It is said that the parts Benafsha played were considered against Islamic values and morality and therefore she was assassinated while going to a bakery near her home.

Several arrests have been made by the police in district six of Kabul where the murder took place. The police chief claims that it was a personal grudge and not related to her work in television. Friends, colleagues, and observers reject the police statement and believe it is a result of the growth of extremism in the country.

After this incident in Kabul, Sahar Parniyan has not dared leave home. Speaking to Kabul Press^?, she said that after she received anonymous death threats by phone from people who said she would be the next victim, she asked the office of Chief of Kabul Police for security protection, but the police were disinterested.

Condemning the latest murder, Ms Parniyan says that she is going to write an open letter to Afghanistan's Interior Ministry to ask for help for her security and the security of other TV actresses and women newscasters, and all radio and television entertainers.

When the news about the murder of Benafsha was published on BBC's Persian language radio station, hundreds of Parniayn's fans wrote messages of support on her Facebook Fan Page. She made the following reply to her nearly 6,000 facebook friends:

“My dear fans, I am thankful for your support and your concerns about me, I am fine. I am very sorry for the suspicious murder of two actresses in west of Kabul. I was also threatened to death, by unknown people, to be the next victim, but I am fine right now. Just for a few days, I do not walk out of home and I have changed my address; I am just worried and a bit shocked about what happened to Benafsha and her friend. I am afraid that before 2014, extremism, terror and fundamentalism seem to be increasing that much that takes the lives of artists and activists of civil society.

My only hope is God, your encouragements and benedictions and maybe the security guards. Hereafter I am forced to have security escorts with me, what can I do, it is the situation in my country!”

"دوستان عزیز، تشکر از پیام ها و نظرات و ابراز نگرانی تان درمورد سلامتی ام، حادثه ناگواری که چند روز پیش در غرب کابل رخداد جان دو تن از هنرمندان تلویزیون را گرفت، و مرا هم تهدیداتی کردند که نفر بعدی من هستم که کارم را خلاص کنند، اما تاکنون سلامتم ، فقط اینکه چند روزی است که از خانه خارج نمیشوم تشویش و دلهره ای بسیار دارم .ترسم از اینست که سال 2014 هنوز نیامده بنیاد گرایی، ترور، و ایجاد رعب و وحشت به این حد برسد و به این آسانی جان هنرمندان و فعالین مدنی را بگیرند، فعلن تنها امیدم به خدا، به دعاهای شما علاقه مندانم و شاید هم به محافظ امنیتی باشد، مجبورم از این به بعد با محافظین امنیتی گشت و گذار نمایم، چی کنم، متاسفانه کشورم چنین است"

Sahar Parniyan 21 is an athlete and actress who has appeared in many Afghan dramatic television series including Hechland AKA Ministry which criticizes corruption in the Afghan government. She has been a special guest on Eid days on four different television channels.

Journalists, celebrities and radio and television entertainers in Afghanistan are under pressure from several sides; armed terrorist groups such as the Taliban, unarmed fundamentalists throughout Afghanistan, and the Ulama Council that is the official religious entity in the government body.

The recent growth of fundamentalism is evidently visible in different corners of the country and of great concern to many who fear it might get worse in 2014 after the foreign troops pull-out of Afghanistan.

Several days ago, a concert was canceled in Herat after an extremist scholar criticized it and asked the Ministry of Culture to cancel the concert. Hundreds of people demonstrated in support of the singer and condemned the cancellation of the concert.

In July this year, the works of three artists from Taasha Artist Group were confiscated by the Ministry of Information and Culture in Kabul and the artists were prohibited from participating in any exhibition in Afghanistan.

While so many print and media journalists have been killed, murdered, tortured and faced with violence and censorship in Afghanistan, the battle for freedom of speech still continues there.