Sophia Saifi - Producer
Sophia Saifi
Producer
Sophia Saifi is a producer for CNN based in Islamabad, responsible for newsgathering and reporting from Pakistan.
Latest
More than 100 killed across Pakistan and Afghanistan as flash floods and heavy rains sweep the region
Apr 17, 2024
Unseasonal rainfall has lashed Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past few days, killing more than 100 people across the neighboring countries, authorities said.
Chinese workers killed in suicide bomb blast as Pakistan grapples with attacks on Beijing’s interests
Mar 27, 2024
Five Chinese workers and their local driver were killed in a suicide bomb blast in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, authorities said, the latest in a string of terror attacks that the South Asian country’s military and government say aims to disrupt Islamabad’s close ties with Beijing.
Pakistan’s major parties formally announce ruling coalition that keeps Imran Khan shut out
Feb 21, 2024
Two of Pakistan’s dynastic political parties have formally announced the formation of a coalition government, a move that brings an end to nearly two weeks of negotiations and likely keeps an incarcerated Imran Khan out of power despite his affiliates winning the most seats in the country’s controversial election.
Coalition government deal in Pakistan leaves Imran Khan’s party out of power
Feb 14, 2024
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan People’s Party say they will form a coalition government after last week’s inconclusive elections.
Pakistan’s youth deliver stinging rebuke to military elite by backing jailed leader Khan
Feb 12, 2024
His political party is effectively banned, his speeches are barred from television, and he faces at least 14 years in prison. But as the Pakistan election results show, Imran Khan cannot be suppressed.
Pakistan releases official election results, independents affiliated with Khan’s PTI secure most seats
Feb 11, 2024
Pakistan’s official election results were announced Sunday, with independent candidates affiliated with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party securing the most seats in parliament.
In shock result, allies of jailed ex-leader Khan win most seats in Pakistan election
Feb 10, 2024
Independent candidates affiliated with jailed Pakistani political leader Imran Khan’s Tehreek E Insaaf (PTI) party won the most National Assembly seats in Pakistan’s general election, delivering a surprise victory in a vote marred by a slow count and rigging allegations.
Vote counting in Pakistan hit by unexpected delays after millions cast their ballot in controversial general election
Feb 9, 2024
Vote counting in Pakistan’s general election has been hit by unexpected delays after millions cast their ballot in an election in which old dynasties vied for power while the country’s widely popular former leader languishes behind bars.
Pakistan on edge as old dynasties vie for power and populist Imran Khan languishes in prison
Feb 8, 2024
Pakistan is on edge as it heads to the polls Thursday for a widely anticipated general election in which its former leader Imran Khan is barred from standing.
Jailed Pakistani former Prime Minister Imran Khan and wife convicted for ‘fraudulent marriage’
Feb 5, 2024
Pakistani former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to seven years in prison and fined by a district court that ruled their 2018 marriage violated the law.
Pakistan election candidate shot dead as violence escalates ahead of nationwide vote
Feb 1, 2024
An independent candidate affiliated with the former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was shot dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province while campaigning on Wednesday, as violence escalates ahead of the country’s general election on February 8.
Pakistan’s former leader Imran Khan sentenced to 14 years in prison, a day after being jailed for 10 years
Jan 31, 2024
Pakistan’s incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption, his Pakistan Tehreef-e-Insaaf (PTI) party said Wednesday, in the second legal blow to beset the beleaguered politician this week.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan sentenced to 10 years in prison
Jan 30, 2024
Pakistan’s former leader Imran Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets, his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said in a statement Tuesday.
Gunmen kill nine Pakistani workers in Iranian border region days after military strikes
Jan 29, 2024
Unidentified gunmen killed nine Pakistani workers on Saturday in the Iranian city of Saravan, in the restive southeastern border region, according to Pakistani officials. The attack is the latest incident across the shared Iran-Pakistan border that has sent tensions between the two neighbors soaring.
Pakistan accuses India of extrajudicial killings on its territory
Jan 26, 2024
A top Pakistan official on Thursday accused India of killing two Pakistani nationals on its soil, citing what he called “a pattern” of alleged Indian assassination plots overseas and raising tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Why are Iran and Pakistan striking each other’s territory – and what does it have to do with the Middle East?
Jan 19, 2024
Pakistan and Iran have both conducted strikes on each other’s territories in an unprecedented escalation of hostilities between the two neighbors, at a time when tensions have risen sharply across the Middle East and beyond.
About
Sophia Saifi is a producer for CNN based in Islamabad, responsible for newsgathering and reporting from Pakistan.
She has taken the lead in covering key stories from Pakistan including the 2018 general elections, the rise in honour killings in the country, and Karachi’s deadly heatwave.
Saifi has spent a decade covering the rise of militancy in Pakistan and while at CNN was embedded with the Pakistani military during major military operations in 2016 and 2014. She has covered the Indian surgical strikes on Pakistan from the field at the heavily militarized Line of Control between the two countries. Saifi also covered Pakistan’s worst terrorist attack, the Peshawar school massacre by the Taliban in December 2014.
Prior to joining CNN in 2013 Saifi was at Dawn News in Pakistan. She is originally from Karachi, Pakistan and has a BA in Politics and International Relations from The University of Kent in Canterbury and an MA in Journalism from Columbia University’s School of Journalism in New York City.
