Anisa Shaheed is an Afghan broadcast journalist known for coverage of violence, human rights abuses, and corruption in Afghanistan. She was head of news at TOLOnews, an independent Afghan television channel. [1] She was a 2022 recipient of the Knight International Journalism Award, given by the International Center for Journalists in recognition of her work. [2] [3]
Anisa Shaheed grew up in the Panjshir Valley in northeast Afghanistan, where she witnessed the Taliban's violations of women and human rights before they were ousted by United States forces in 2001. She earned a degree in journalism from Kabul University. She began her journalism career covering politics for Cheragh Daily Newspaper before switching to TV broadcasting. She joined Afghan independent TV channel TOLOnews in 2009 as a reporter, and rose through the ranks to the position of head of news. [4] At TOLOnews she covered beats such as human rights, elections, current affairs, and security. [5]
After the return of Taliban to power in 2021 and their subsequent crackdown on journalists and women's rights, Shaheed fled her country to the U.S., where she continues writing about the situation in Afghanistan as a freelancer. [6] [7]
In June 2022, she was honoured by Reporters Without Borders for her “Courageous” coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and Afghanistan's Free Speech Hub named her “The Face of Afghanistan’s Freedom of Expression” [2]
Reporters Without Borders is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as founded on the belief that everyone requires access to the news and information, in line with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that recognizes the right to receive and share information regardless of frontiers, along with other international rights charters. RSF has consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the International Organisation of the Francophonie.
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