UNESCO Director-General condemns the murder in Pakistan of journalist Faiz Mohammad Khan Sasoli
01-07-2010 (Paris)
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, condemned the murder of the Pakistani journalist Faiz Mohammad Khan Sasoli in Khuzdar in Balochistan province on 27 June, and called on the authorities to do everything possible to ensure that justice is done. The victim was a correspondent of the Aaj Kal newspaper and of the Independent News of Pakistan agency.
“I condemn the murder of Faiz Mohammad Khan Sasoli,” Irina Bokova said. “I call on the authorities to do everything in their power to bring the perpetrators to justice. Impunity is never acceptable. It is even less so when it concerns protecting the right to information and the freedom of expression, which is the guarantor of democracy.”
According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Faiz Mohammad Khan Sasoli was shot down as he was driving in Khuzdar district. The former president of the Khuzdar Press Club had already received death threats and had survived two attacks in the past 12 months. According to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, another journalist, Haji Wasi Ahmed, was also murdered in Khuzdar in April 2009, and a third journalist, Chishti Mujahid, the previous year.
According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Faiz Mohammad Khan Sasoli was shot down as he was driving in Khuzdar district. The former president of the Khuzdar Press Club had already received death threats and had survived two attacks in the past 12 months. According to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, another journalist, Haji Wasi Ahmed, was also murdered in Khuzdar in April 2009, and a third journalist, Chishti Mujahid, the previous year.
UNESCO is the only United Nations agency whose mission consists in defending the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press. By virtue of Article I of its Constitution, the Organization is called upon “to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion.” To this end, it “collaborates in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommends such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image.”
Related themes/countries
· Pakistan
· Press Freedom
· UNESCO Remembers Assassinated Journalists
· Weekly newsletter
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