Photo of assassinated Afghan police officer co-opted by anti-burqa political group
It is not the way Lana Slezic wants her friend to be remembered. The Toronto photographer's photo of Malalai Kakar is being used in a "ban the burqa" campaign by the British First party. Kakar was the first female police investigator with the Kandahar Police Department in Afghanistan. She was killed by the Taliban in 2008....
It is not the way Lana Slezic wants her friend to be remembered. The Toronto photographer's photo of Malalai Kakar is being used in a "ban the burqa" campaign by the British First party. Kakar was the first female police investigator with the Kandahar Police Department in Afghanistan. She was killed by the Taliban in 2008.
Slezic was in Afghanistan from 2004-2006 working on a book about Afghan women. She says she wanted to show both sides of Kakar's life. The original pictures are posted to her website.
She tells Carol, "she was a mother and wife on one side, and on the other a professional police officer and I wanted to show her in that position of strength."
Slezic learned that her photos were being used without permission after being contacted by The Guardian and Australia's public broadcaster, ABC.
"It's ridiculous. I mean, here is a woman who stood for the rights of other women, who fought for the rights of other women, who died at the hands of the Taliban and extremists. And here she is painted as someone who is an aggressor."
Slezic has emailed the British First party, as well as Australian Senator Jacqui Lambie, who have posted the ad to their Facebook pages. She has not yet had a reply.