The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) condemned the campaign against its member and prominent Pakistani journalist Marvi Sirmed.
According to the statement issued by the Coalition, the online campaigns against women journalist in Pakistan “are reaching unprecedented capacity”.
It said the murder threats given to Sirmed fall “under incitement of serious crimes against humanity and the authorities must act … to ensure her safety and security.”
“On March 29, our member Marvi Sirmed became the target of a new online campaign that is spreading misinformation and inciting people to violence against her,” the statement said. “Sirmed was incorrectly linked to a news story about incest. The account that posted the campaign on Facebook goes by the name of Saqib Hussain, started off with installing a false claim that Sirmed brought 10 homeless people to Islamabad and encouraged them to participate in incestous acts. The account is followed by more than 225,000 people.”
Photos stolen from Sirmed’s Facebook account were made public, along with other personal details, including her home address, ID card number, and other contact details.
The post ends by calling on all muslims to murder Sirmed and her “mafia of godless liberals”.
Speaking about the growing abuse of women journalists in Pakistan, CFWIJ Founding Director Kiran Nazish said, “Every few days in a month I find myself grappling with a new set of cases of different forms of harassment against women journalists coming from Pakistan. This is unprecedented and we demand the Pakistani government to get involved immediately, to ensure the safety of women journalists in the country.” She also said, “Inciting violence and propaganda against women journalists in the country has become a norm and it is imperative that the government gets involved.”
“Social media is a tool that can be used for great good but is also, unfortunately, being used for negative purposes that violate fundamental rights and human dignity. Posts targeting women particularly create a negative environment that enables further abuse,” said senior journalist and member of CFWIJ Beena Sarwar. “When we report these posts, Facebook and Twitter often respond saying that the posts don’t violate their standards. I understand the need for the importance of freedom of expression and free speech but social media platforms also need to understand cultural context.”
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