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Abdul Matin Sarfraz

Photo of Abdul Matin Sarfraz
Reporter Toronto English
Analysis, News
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About Abdul Matin Sarfraz

Abdul Matin Sarfraz was born and raised in Afghanistan. He has personally witnessed his country’s political conflict and had the opportunity to study the inner workings of conflicts as a social phenomenon.

Though he has been directly affected by his country’s decades of conflict, he has not given up. He has continuously struggled to get a higher education in hopes that someday he, his children and all Afghans, will have a better future.

Abdul Matin received a BA in law from the University of Takhar, Afghanistan, and a master’s in journalism from the University of Hong Kong HKU through a scholarship.

Since 2004, he worked as a reporter with national and international media covering the insurgency, human rights, and governance in Afghanistan. In 2004, he co-founded the first weekly independent newspaper (Sada-e-Watan) in Kunduz province after the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

He has worked with international media outlets such as the New York Times, Reuters, Der Spiegel, German Press Agency DPA, Vice.com and local ones such as Pajhwok

News Agency and Radio Sada-e-Azadi Shamal.

He also co-founded and worked as editor-in-chief for Rasany Independent Daily Newspaper in Kunduz Afghanistan.

Abdul Matin is a Journalism Fellow at Canada's National Observer through the Afghan Journalists-in-Residence Program in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights with funding from the Meta Journalism Project.

8 Articles

Farmers donate hair and urine for non-lethal coyote control

Until two years ago, Topsy Farms lost an average of 40 sheep a year to coyotes. But after rethinking its relationship with the predators, the Ontario farm has cut its number of sheep killed to just two a year thanks to some unorthodox management methods.
News | March 20th 2023
Bekzad urged the provincial government to find alternative ways of expanding the subway line without damaging the environment

Ontario transit agency to cut down thousands of Toronto trees for new subway line

To make way for public transit, often a few trees must fall. In the case of one forthcoming Toronto subway line, the number is 2,787.
News | March 14th 2023

Newcomers struggle to separate truth from fiction in Canadian politics

Immigrants to Canada face myriad challenges in assimilating to their new home, language, culture and even climate. However, experts believe one of the most daunting prospects for newcomers is navigating the democratic political process.
News, Politics | March 13th 2023
On International Women’s Day, Najia Rauf

‘We don’t give up’: Toronto woman’s online school gives hope to girls under Taliban rule

On International Women’s Day, Najia Raufi’s thoughts turn to the women and girls left behind in her birthplace of Afghanistan. 
News | March 8th 2023
Iranian-Canadian human rights activist

Iranian-Canadian human rights activist pushes message of freedom on International Women’s Day

Azam Jangravi climbed atop an electrical transformer box in Tehran in February 2018, removed her headscarf and waved it at the crowd.
News | March 7th 2023

Is climate change good for insurgent groups?

When the Taliban was still an insurgent force, it was paying soldiers as much as $300 a month — an irresistible sum considering the average Afghan's annual income was only $390 a year.
News, New News | February 28th 2023

Share climate goals with newcomers to Canada. It’s important

With government plans to bring in 1.5 million more immigrants in the next three years, the lack of climate change education could negatively impact the effort to achieve ambitious policy goals, like the proposed net-zero emissions by 2050.
News | February 22nd 2023

Afghan journalists get second chance with Canadian media placement program

Journalists for Human Rights is helping Afghan refugee journalists find a second chance through its residency program in Canada. I am one of them.
News | February 14th 2023

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