Mohammad Naseer Mirzayee, a local journalist in the southern Kandahar province who was laid off months earlier, “committed suicide” due to unemployment, sources confirmed to Kabul Now.
He had worked as a reporter and presenter for the Kandahar branch of National Radio and Television, as well as for Za Ma and Tabassum private radio stations.
He took his life with a gun on Sunday, December 18, in Ayno Maina Township of Kandahar city, one of his friends told Kabul Now.
According to local journalists and his friends, he committed suicide due to “unemployment” as he was laid off a few months ago and had complained about unemployment one month earlier.
Confirming the suicide incident, local Taliban authorities, however, said that the journalist has committed suicide due to “domestic problems”.
Over half of the Afghan media outlets have been forced to stop operating ever since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
With the closure of these media outlets, a huge number of journalists and media workers have faced unemployment in the country.