Farida Nekzad

Biography

Farida Nekzad was among the journalists and human rights defenders who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban took power in 2021. Nekzad is a veteran Afghan journalist who was the founder and director of the Centre for the Protection of Afghan Women Journalists. Earlier  in her career she was the managing editor of Pajhwok Afghan News, one of the country’s largest independent news agencies. She was targeted by the Taliban because of the leading role she played in training and encouraging women journalists. After arriving in Canada she took up a position last December as a Journalist-in-Residence in the School of Journalism and Communication. As an MJ student, she plans to conduct a major study of the situation of women journalists in Afghanistan.