British-Pakistani journalist Saima Mohsin sues CNN for ‘unfair dismissal’

British-Pakistani journalist Saima Mohsin said on Monday that she is suing her former employer CNN for “unfair dismissal, disability and race discrimination”.

In a tweet on Monday, Mohsin, who is currently working as a freelance TV presenter for Sky News, said she was fired by CNN in 2017, three years after being injured while on on assignment for the media giant.

“We risk our lives in the field trusting we’ll be taken care of,” she wrote. “CNN wants my case thrown out. Big week for me at Employment Tribunal”. Her case at an employment tribunal in London is reportedly set to be heard today.

According to a report in The Guardian shared by Mohsin in her tweet, she was injured during an assignment in Jerusalem in 2014 when her cameraman accidentally ran over her foot in a car causing severe tissue damage. Ever since, she has found it difficult to sit, stand or walk.

“After the incident in 2014 the foreign correspondent claims she requested alternative duties and support for rehabilitation but CNN refused,” the report said.

“She also alleges that she asked CNN if she could switch to a presenting role in order to reduce the amount of time spent travelling but was told ‘you don’t have the look we are looking for’. Three years later, the channel terminated her contract.”

Mohsin’s claim also alleges race and disability discrimination, as well as a complaint about the gender pay gap at CNN, the report said, adding that CNN declined to comment on the allegations and is disputing her claim on territorial grounds by claiming that she does not have the right to sue in London.

On a post on LinkedIn a month ago, she said she lives in pain all down her left side and is constantly exhausted.

“I spent years bed ridden and depressed, I had to learn to feel and control my foot again. Sometimes I felt it too much. But slowly but surely I’ve learnt to manage my pain & am back on screen presenting at Sky News who’ve been so understanding of my condition.”

“You can’t see it but I live with it everyday. As do so many millions of people in the UK & of course around the world. We never know what anyone is going through”.

Mohsin is a journalist, presenter and filmmaker, who has worked in 28 countries and interviewed big names like Hillary Clinton, Tom Cruise, Benazir Bhutto, Tony Blair and Amitabh Bachchan, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She worked as a Pakistan correspondent for CNN from October 2012 to January 2014, and as an international correspondent from 2014 to 2017.

She was also an anchor for the Dawn News TV channel from 2007 to 2011 and directed a documentary about Taliban attacks on Sufi Shrines.