Kadafi Zaman is back in Norway

Pakistani flag Zaman repatriationPakistani flag. Photo: pixabay.com

Kadafi Zaman is back in Norway

TV2’s reporter Kadafi Zaman is back in Norway after being arrested and beaten by Pakistani police while reporting from a political demonstration. It is not known whether the trumped up charges against him have been dropped. He is charged with taking mobile phones from policemen in two different towns at the same time, among other things.

 

Zaman was arrested on July 13th and placed in prison for several days in Pakistan. He was covering a political demonstration in the city of Gujrat, in the northeast of the country. In a post on Norwegian TV2‘s website, Zaman writes that it was the worst day of his life so far.

– I’m safely returned to Norway. But the ones who have to face this fight every day are the Pakistani journalists and editors. They have pens. The adversary has bullets. Their courage gives me hope, strength and motivation. We shall never bend the knee, writes Zaman.

Unacceptable

Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ine Eriksen Søreide (Conservatives) has stated that the attack on the journalist was unacceptable.

– Attacks on journalists are unacceptable and do not belong in a democracy. It is important that Pakistani and foreign journalists alike freely and independently can cover the general elections in Pakistan. Norway condemns attacks on all journalists, whether by use of violence, coercion or threats, in order to curb their freedom and independence, the Cabinet Minister wrote in an email to NTB.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today