McGill says pro-Palestinian protest outside senior administrator's home 'crosses the line'
McGill University has denounced a pro-Palestinian protest held Sunday outside the home of one of its senior administrators.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer for the Reuters news service was killed Friday as he chronicled fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban near a strategic border crossing amid the continuing withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops.
Danish Siddiqui, 38, had been embedded with Afghan special forces for the past few days and was killed as the commando unit battled for control of the Spin Boldak crossing on the border between southern Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Siddiqui was part of a team that won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their coverage of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar. More recently, he had captured searing images of India's struggle against COVID-19 and protests against new farming laws.
Farhat Basir Khan, a professor of mass communications at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, lauded his former student's sense of empathy and his determination to go after difficult and complex stories.
“He was our eye. He gave voice and agency to thousands whose suffering might have been lost,” Khan said in a statement. “If a picture is worth a thousand words, his were worth millions.”
Siddiqui and a senior Afghan officer were killed as the special forces unit fought to retake the main market area in Spin Boldak, Reuters reported, citing the army.
The Taliban have turned over Siddiqui's body to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Indian authorities said.
Reuters said it was seeking more information about how Siddiqui was killed, describing him as a “devoted husband and father, and a much-loved colleague.”
“It is so devastating for me to imagine that I won't be talking to Danish anymore,” said Ahmad Masood, Asia Editor for Reuters Pictures. “A kind-hearted human being. … He was the best of the best, as a person and a professional. His work speaks volumes of his bravery and his passion in photojournalism. He cared.”
Deputy State Department spokeperson Jalina Porter expressed U.S. condolences, saying Siddiqui was “celebrated for his work often in the world's most urgent and challenging news stories and for creating striking images that conveyed a wealth of emotion and the human face behind the headlines.”
“Siddiqui's death is a tremendous loss, not only for Reuters and for his media colleagues but also for the rest of the world,” she said.
The fighting around Spin Boldak comes as the U.S. and NATO forces complete the final phase of their withdrawal from Afghanistan, opening the door for the Taliban to take control of large swaths of territory. District after district has fallen to the Taliban and the insurgents have in past weeks seized several key border crossings, putting more pressure on the Afghan government and cutting off strategic trade routes.
A native of New Delhi, Siddiqui was a self-taught photographer who had been a defense correspondent for one of India's leading television networks before he decided to change careers.
Siddiqui said he became frustrated because television news focused only on the big stories, not the small features from the interior of India that he wanted to explore, according to a 2018 interview with Forbes India. He left his well-paid TV job in 2010 to become an intern at Reuters.
A montage of his best work compiled by Reuters includes photos of traditional Indian wrestlers covered in mud, Hindu priests praying in a cave above the River Ganges and a man covered in lint feeding cotton into aging machinery by hand.
“While I enjoy covering news stories - from business to politics to sports - what I enjoy most is capturing the human face of a breaking story,” he wrote in a profile on the Reuters website. “I really like covering issues that affect people as the result of different kind of conflicts.”
Siddiqui and his colleagues were honored with 2018 Pulitzer Prize for what the judges called “shocking photographs that exposed the world to the violence Rohingya refugees faced in fleeing Myanmar.”
One of his prize-winning images shows an exhausted woman crumpled on the sand, while in the background men behind her unload the boat that carried them to safety in Bangladesh.
Capturing the images was difficult, as the photographers had to walk barefoot for up to four hours through rice fields to reach the border area, Siddiqui told Forbes.
“It's an emotional thing too,” he said. “I am the father of a two-year-old and to see kids drowning is terrible. But, as a journalist, you've got to do your job. I'm happy I was able to … balance profession and emotion and know when to drop my camera to save kids left in water by fishermen.”
Siddiqui covered the conflict Iraq, earthquakes in Nepal and demonstrations in Hong Kong. But in recent months he turned his lens on the COVID-19 pandemic in India, offering searing images of those who suffered and died without adequate medical care and oxygen.
“I shoot for the common man who wants to see and feel a story from a place where he can't be present himself,” he wrote.
Included among the social media tributes to Siddiqui was one of his posts from the Pulitzer Prize ceremony in New York. It showed a closeup of the name tag that identified him as the “2018 Pulitzer Prize Winner Feature Photography.”
“For Sarah and Yunus,” he wrote above the image, remembering his children as he received the prestigious award.
Gannon reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Afghanistan, Matthew Lee in Washington, and Krutika Pathi and Ashok Sharma in New Delhi contributed to this report.
McGill University has denounced a pro-Palestinian protest held Sunday outside the home of one of its senior administrators.
If you've been to a party lately and haven't seen someone drinking a BORG, you're likely not partying with college students.
Singapore Airlines will reward its employees with a bonus worth nearly eight months of salary, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Friday.
Michael Cohen testified Monday that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his ex-boss Donald Trump’s company, an admission defence lawyers hope to use to undermine Cohen’s credibility.
Katy Perry said her goodbyes on 'American Idol' after seven seasons. On Sunday night’s live 'idol' season finale, a medley of Perry's hit songs were performed, including 'Teenage Dream,' 'Dark Horse' and 'California Gurls.'
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by a Canadian-born former Guantanamo detainee who was seeking to wipe away his war crimes convictions, including for killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.
U.S.-based restaurant chain Red Lobster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Florida court after securing $100 million in financing commitments from its existing lenders, the company said on Sunday.
Questions about how the team is going to handle the absence of star winger Brock Boeser from a do-or-die game seven dominated pre-game interviews with the Vancouver Canucks coach and players Monday morning.
A 35-year-old woman is in critical condition after the pick-up truck she was driving was struck by a Via Rail passenger train Monday morning in Quebec's Monteregie region.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.