Mohammad Reza Sher Mohammadi
quqnoos.com

Masked men have used razor blades to slice the arms and hands of a female journalist in Herat on the same day that media groups expressed concern over the welfare of journalists in the province.

The attack, the second within the last week in Herat, took place yesterday (Wednesday) days after the men had threatened to kill local television presenter Nilofar Habib if she failed to leave her job.

"The men told me that if I didn’t leave the TV station, then I would be killed. Then they came and cut my arm with blades," Habib said.

The attack comes only days after the governor of Herat, Said Hossain Anwari, was accused of beating the deputy controller of the local state-run television station.

Organisations set up to protect the rights of journalists have issued a five-point letter to the judiciary in Herat urging them to investigate the alleged beating of the province’s RTA deputy, Farhad Joya.

Herat’s governor said journalists and mass media workers enjoy more freedom now than at any other time in the past.

Anwari said: "I don’t think there’s any problem with working as a journalist in Herat. If they have a problem, they should come to my office and they should tell it to me. We will get the security forces to help them."

Joya accuses Anwari of walking into his studio, swearing at him and then beating him up because he refused to hire one of the governor’s candidates as Herat bureau chief.

One local journalist in the province said: "I’m asking the organisations who have a duty to protect the media and from human rights groups to look into these cases and to do something about them."