“I condemn the killing of Ayub Khan Kattak,” the Director-General said. “I am deeply concerned by the violence against journalists in Pakistan, which threatens to undermine freedom of expression in the country. I urge the authorities to investigate this murder and identify those responsible for it. Unless the culprits are brought to trial, intimidation and violence will compromise press freedom,” Ms Bokova cautioned.

Ayub Khan Kattak, 42, a reporter for the Karak Times, was shot by two men on a motorcycle outside his home in Karak district, in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Local sources believe that Kattak’s killing may be connected to his reporting on drug trafficking. He is remembered, along with seven other media workers killed in Pakistan this year, on the dedicated web page UNESCO Condemns Killing of Journalists.

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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, +33 (0)1 45 68 42 12

UNESCO is the United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization 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, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”