AFP photographer recovering after protest shooting

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 17 January 2015

Asif Hassan, an AFP photographer, was shot while covering a protest against Charlie Hebdo in Karachi. He is currently in stable condition at a local hospital.

Summary

KARACHI: AFP photographer Asif Hassan was recovering in hospital on Saturday after being shot while covering an anti-Charlie Hebdo protest outside the French consulate in Karachi.

The protest by the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami religious party was one of several staged across Pakistan by Islamist groups after Friday prayers against the French magazine's depiction of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

Hassan was stable and conscious after the bullet entered his back and exited through his chest via a lung, medics at the Aga Khan University Hospital and relatives said.

Police and witnesses at the scene blamed the protesters for the violence, saying they opened fire on the police when they were blocked from reaching the consulate.

Two others, a policeman and a local TV cameraman, received minor wounds and were discharged from hospital after first aid.

Hassan, 38, has worked for AFP since 2005, mainly from the sprawling port city of 18 million people.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded the culprits behind Friday's incident be brought to justice.

"We call on authorities to quickly and thoroughly investigate the shooting of Agence France-Presse photographer Asif Hassan and to hold the perpetrators to account," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.

"Journalists in Pakistan must be able to safely cover newsworthy events."

Fourteen journalists in Pakistan died in 2014, according to the International Federation of Journalism, making it the deadliest country in the world for the profession.

Protests against Charlie Hebdo, which published a new cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) a week after 12 people were killed at its offices by Islamist gunmen, also shook other parts of the Muslim world on Friday.

Four people were killed and 45 injured in protests in Niger's second city of Zinder that turned violent with demonstrators ransacking three churches and torching the French cultural center.- AFP

KEY POINTS:

• Asif Hassan was shot during an anti-Charlie Hebdo protest in Karachi.
• The protest was organized by the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami.
• Witnesses say protesters fired at police, leading to the violence.
• Hassan is stable and recovering in Aga Khan University Hospital.
• The Committee to Protect Journalists called for an investigation into the shooting.