KABUL - An Afghan journalist safety group said today it documented a 60 per cent increase in the cases of violence against journalists during the first six months of this year.

“If we compare with the first six months of 2013, we have 60 per cent increase in the cases of violence against journalists in 2014, which is deeply concerning,” said the Director of the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC), Najeeb Sharifi, while releasing the Committee’s report at a news conference in the capital, Kabul.

Mr. Sharifi said that among the 68 cases of violence against journalists the group recorded between January and June, five of them were related to killings, including two foreign nationals.

One of the key reasons for the increase in violence against journalists was election, “which set the stage” for increased cases of violence in Afghanistan, he noted, expressing concern that both the leading Presidential candidates in the Afghan elections did not have any significant plan for promotion of freedom of speech.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has condemned any violence targeted against journalists for carrying out their work.

Following the killing of two international journalists, Anja Niedringhaus and Kathy Gannon, in the south-eastern Afghan province of Khost on 4 April, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the country and head of UNAMA, Ján Kubiš, said he was “outraged by this terror attack.”

In today’s news conference, Mr. Sharifi said that 63 per cent cases of violence were committed by the associates of the Afghan Government including the Afghan security forces, 11.8 per cent to the Taliban and 8.8 per cent to “warlords and commanders,” while the remaining cases could not be attributed to any side.

“These cases of violence include physical torture and oral abuse,” said Mr. Shairfi.

He expressed the fear that if the working environment for journalists is not made safer, it will threaten the freedom of speech and achievements of the last 13 years.