RFE/RL

Today RFE/RL mourns the tragic loss of Haseeba Shaheed. Haseeba was involved in a car accident in Prague last week, succumbing to her injuries last night. She was a fearless reporter who joined RFE/RL’s Kabul bureau in 2003 as a senior reporter/producer for Radio Azadi, and moved to Prague two years ago to work as a broadcaster for Radio Mashaal. 

During her time with Radio Azadi, Haseeba won three consecutive awards for best reporting in the service. She investigated the smuggling of women, which caused an uproar with a local warlord pressuring provincial authorities to silence Haseeba’s reporting. The case was resolved through intervention at the highest levels.  More recently, Haseeba wrote and produced an acclaimed package for Radio Mashaal on four mothers who lost their sons in war: an Afghan soldier, a U.S. soldier, a member of the Taliban, and an Afghan civilian. 

Haseeba also produced a series “Kegday Kegday” of over twenty pieces on nomadic people in Afghanistan, in which she explored the challenges they confront in their daily lives.

Haseeba was 29 years old and is survived by her husband and two young children, an extended family in Afghanistan and abroad, and all of her friends here at RFE/RL.