January 22, 2018
FirouzKouh: Unknown gunmen set on fire a private radio station overnight in Afghanistan’s remote Ghor province, second radio station to be attacked in the province in less than a month.
AbdulWadood Samim, editor in-chief of Sadaye Edalat(Voice of Justice) radio station told the Afghanistan Journalists Cetner (AFJC) that the incident took place on Sunday, January 21 about 9pm.
' During live broadcast, three armed men covering their faces entered the station and set it in fire after beating me up,' said Samim, adding that all devices and equipment, including the broadcast building, were torched and destroyed.
Attackers fled after targeting the radio station, Abdul Hai Khatibi, spokesman for provincial governor, said.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. Shamsulhaq
Mowahed, a religious scholar in Ghor said in his Facebook account that entertainment programs of the radio would possibly cause the incident.
'The clerics Shura had previously asked the radio to review its broadcasting policy and not allow women attending the immoral music programs, but did not pay attention to the request.'
The Afghanistan Journalists Center executive director Ahmad Quraishi
Condemned the attack and expressed sorrow at the incident.
"The attack on Radio Sadaye Edalat effectively hinders an entire community in a remote province from exercising its right to be informed” said Ahmad Quraishi AFJC’s executive director.
“The government must immediately conduct a thorough investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice." Mr.Quraishi added
The attack on the radio station comes nearly a month after unknown men targeted and burned Radio Sarhad in the province.