Secunder Kermani is a British journalist who is Foreign Correspondent for

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' i ...

. Kermani is a former

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

correspondent in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

. He was previously a reporter on the BBC's flagship

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behind the News Politics * A ...

programme ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also avail ...

''.

Education

Secunder Kermani was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and is of Pakistani descent. Kermani attended

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose o ...

and then graduated with a first class

honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, or ...

in History and Spanish from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The university owns and operates majo ...

, and a Masters in TV Journalism from

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

Career

Kermani began reporting for the BBC's ''

'' programme in 2014. Many of his reports focused on the growth of the militant group the

Islamic State in Iraq and Syria An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ' ...

(ISIS), and Western recruits to the organisation. He secured a number of exclusive interviews with members of ISIS including British jihadist

Omar Hussain Omar Ali Hussain (21 March 1987 - 2017), also known under the ''nom de guerre'' Abu Sa'eed al-Britani, was a British Islamic militant and member of the Islamic State. Early life Hussain was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. He attended Cre ...

, and Australian suicide bomber

Jake Bilardi Jake Bilardi (1 December 1996 – 11 March 2015), also known as Abu Abdullah al-Khanzir, dubbed by the media as Halal Jake, was an eighteen-year-old Australian suicide bomber. Bilardi's background has been described as radically different f ...

, as well as with relatives of other ISIS fighters. In October 2016, it was reported that police from the

Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, covering ...

Counter Terrorism department had obtained a court order allowing them to seize Kermani's laptop to view messages between him and a member of ISIS he had interviewed. The case attracted criticism from

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

campaigners. Editor of ''Newsnight''

Ian Katz Ian Alexander Katz (born 9 February 1968) is a British journalist and broadcasting executive who is currently Chief Content Officer at Channel 4, overseeing all editorial decision making and commissioning across Channel 4's linear channels, str ...

said he was "concerned that the use of the Terrorism Act to obtain communication between journalists and sources will make it very difficult for reporters to cover this issue of critical public interest." In February 2018 Kermani was appointed the BBC's correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has interviewed

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

winner

Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second Pa ...

, former Prime Ministers of Pakistan

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

and

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

, the President of Sri Lanka

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena ( si, පල්ලෙවත්‍ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්‍රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; ta, பல்லேவத்த கமராளலாகே மைத்திரி� ...

, and chief negotiator of the

Afghan Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

, Abbas Stanikzai. Kermani has also been a reporter on an episode of the BBC's flagship documentary strand ''Panorama'', and been a presenter on the

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station ha ...

radio station. In 2021, Kermani was one of the main correspondents from the BBC covering the advance of the Taliban, the ''Fall of Kabul'' and the subsequent events. In 2022, Kermani became the new Foreign Correspondent for Channel 4 News.

Awards

2016 New York Radio Awards (Gold, Best Documentary, Gold, Best Investigative report) – "ISIS: Young, British and Radicalised” for BBC Radio 1. 2016 Association for International Broadcasting (Radio Current Affairs, Winner) – "ISIS: Young, British and Radicalised” for BBC Radio 1. 2018 Human Rights Press Awards (Television & Video, Winner) – BBC "Our World" documentary: “Murder on Campus” investigating the lynching of Pakistani student Mashal Khan who was accused by classmates of having committed blasphemy. 2021 nominee for a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

as a part of the writing and reporter team for the Afghanistan: Documenting A Crucial Year. 2024 Royal Television Society, Network Television Journalist of the Year

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kermani, Secunder Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester BBC newsreaders and journalists British expatriates in Pakistan British people of Pakistani descent People educated at Dulwich College Year of birth missing (living people)