By IANS/AKI,
Washington : Slain Pakistani reporter Syed Saleem Shahzad’s name will be included in a two-storey glass memorial in US that will display the names of journalists who have died in the line of duty.
The badly beaten body of the 40-year-old Shahzad, who worked as Southeast Asia bureau chief for the Asia Times Online and also for the AKI news agency, was found 150 km from Islamabad in May 2011, two days after he disappeared from the Pakistani capital.
The May 14 ceremony will honour Shahzad and 71 other journalists who last year lost their lives because of their work. They will have their names etched on the Journalists Memorial at the Newseum in Washington.
“He was killed for writing the truth and for this he sacrificed his life,” the Newseum quoted Shahzad’s brother as saying.
Suspicion over Shahzad’s murder fell on Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Before his disappearance, Shahzad published an article in Asia Times Online alleging links between Al Qaeda and officials in the Pakistan Navy.
The ISI denied involvement in his death.