Prague, 22 September 2000 (RFE/RL) -- Iskandar Khatloni, a Moscow-based correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tajik service, died in a Moscow hospital last night after being attacked in his apartment. Moscow police are investigating.
Khatloni, who was 45 years old, had worked for BBC radio for 10 years. In 1996, he joined RFE/RL as a news correspondent, reporting from Moscow for the Tajik-language service.
Khatloni was well-known in Moscow political circles and the human rights community, broadcasting often on human rights issues in Chechnya and elsewhere in Russia. In recent months, he had also reported on government corruption and drug-trafficking in Tajikistan.
He was born on October 12, 1954, in the town of Kulob, southeast of Dushanbe near the Afghan border. Khatloni was a well-known publicist and poet in his native Tajikistan, with four published volumes of verse and numerous articles to his credit. Before turning to radio journalism, he wrote for the literary weekly of Tajikistan.
Khatloni was a graduate of the Gorki Institute of Literature in Moscow. He is survived by a wife, Kimmat, and a daughter.