Radio station technician and host murdered in Kapisa Valley

Reporters Without Borders is saddened to learn that the body of Mohammad Hassin Hashemi, a 30-year-old employee of local radio Nadjhrab in the northeastern Kapisa Valley, was found near his home yesterday, 18 days after he disappeared. Hashemi was apparently shot in the head the day after he went missing. His body also bore the marks of blows. “We offer our condolences to his family and fellow workers, and we urge the authorities to establish the circumstances of his murder,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The perpetrators and instigators of this crime must be arrested and punished.” Hashemi had been radio Nadjhrab’s chief technician for the past four years. He also hosted two of its programmes, its press review and “Morvaride hay honar” (Pearls of the Arts). Radio Nadjhrab is the Kapisa Valley’s most popular station. His wife said he was threatened several times before his disappearance. The police seem to be working on the assumption that the motive was of a personal nature and have arrested three members of his family without explaining why. Radio Nadjhrab director Abdol Mutalib Hame told Reporters Without Borders: “It is still too early to talk about a motive but I was not aware of threats being made against him. None of our journalists has been threatened recently. He was good and professional, and a technical genius.”