The SafeJournalists Network welcomes the rapid and efficient response of the police of the Canto Sarajevo Ministry of Interior Affairs and the Sarajevo Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office, which resulted in the detention of Amir Pašić “Faće” for online insults, psychological violence, and endangering the safety of women journalist Rabija Arifović, employed by the Sarajevo magazine Stav.
Between October 13 and 17, journalist Rabija Arifović was subjected to brutal online violence through a series of video posts on the social media platforms TikTok and Balkan Radar Facebook profile. The abuse followed the publication of her interview with Ramo Isak, Minister of Interior Affairs of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the country’s two entities.
Using street language, Amir Pašić made a number of offensive, misogynistic and vulgar words against women journalist Rabija Arifović in live videos, insulting her gender and religious identity and cursing both living and deceased members of her family. By sharing these videos on social media and through the comments of hundreds of followers of Pašić and Balkan Radar, the online violence spread at an incredible speed and lasted for days. Each new message was more horrifying than the previous one, all published with the intent to destroy the professional and personal integrity of journalist Arifović.
After the BH Journalists Association and many other organizations, institutions, and individuals in BiH publicly condemned the verbal attacks and threats to the safety of Rabija Arifović, Amir Pašić and his followers turned their aggression via YouTube toward Borka Rudić, Women Secretary General of BH Journalists, and Duška Jurišić, former women journalist and current Assistant Minister for Human Rights, calling them “whores” and cursing their children and other family members. In previous social media posts, Amir Pašić, known to the BiH public as a person with a criminal record and several convictions for criminal offenses, had verbally and psychologically abused Dalija Hasanbegović Konaković, a former women journalist at the Al Jazeera Balkans, for months.
The SafeJournalists Network joins the BH Journalists Association in strongly condemning the verbal violence and hate speech directed against Rabija Arifović and the other named women journalists, as this represents a typical example of the misuse of freedom of expression to dehumanize women in journalism. Such behavior toward women journalists is witnessed daily, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but across the entire Western Balkans region, and we recognize it as a deliberate attempt to portray women journalists as “less valuable beings” who should be professionally and psychologically destroyed through social media posts and comments.
The SafeJournalists Network and BH Journalists express solidarity with all women journalists exposed to unprecedented online violence and call on the police and judicial institutions in Sarajevo to persist in prosecuting those responsible for this criminal act. We urge that gender elements and security risks be considered as aggravating circumstances in legal proceedings related to online attacks against our colleagues. Punishing those behind these attacks should serve as a warning to all others who abuse freedom of expression to spread hatred and commit crimes against the safety and constitutionally protected religious, gender, and other identities—not only of women journalists but also of many other citizens.
Every attack on journalists is an attack on democracy, the public interest, and fundamental human rights.
Pristina – Skopje – Sarajevo – Zagreb – Belgrade – Podgorica – Tirana, October 24, 2025
Croatian Journalists’ Association
Association of Journalists of Kosovo
Association of Journalists of Macedonia
BH Journalists Association
Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia
Trade Union of Media of Montenegro
