Danish Siddiqui (19 May 1983 – 16 July 2021[1]) was an Indian photojournalist based in Delhi, who used to lead the national Reuters multimedia team and was Chief Photographer India.

[3][4][5][6] He received his first 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography, as part of the Reuters team, for documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Siddiqui had since covered the Afghanistan War (2012), Battle of Mosul (2016–2017), the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, the 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis, the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, the 2020 Delhi riots, and the COVID-19 pandemic among other stories in South Asia, Middle East and Europe.

[16][17][18] Another photograph, taken of a teenage right-wing activist brandishing a pistol at protesters while police looked on, became evidence of "the emboldening of Hindu nationalists" in the wake of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

The Reuter report did not answer questions related to mutilation of the body, safety of Danish while covering such conflict, absence of security advisors, not recalling him back after 13 July attack.

[49] Michael Rubin (in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner on 29 July 2021) cited several unnamed sources to claim that the Taliban had eliminated him in a planned operation, which was covered-up by the US Government.

He claimed that as part of this operation, they had attacked a mosque where Siddiqui had gone to receive first-aid, captured him, vetted his identity, and then executed him, after fighting off the Afghan forces who came to the rescue.

[46] However, the-then spokesman of Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) told India Today that Siddiqui was indeed executed by the Taliban.

[52] A report by News18 has since confirmed Rubin's version of events from Afghan and Indian intelligence officials; presence of about a dozen close range gunshot wounds on his torso were argued to corroborate his thesis.

[46][54] Ahmad Lodin, the head of the newspaper Afghan Orband Weekly, claimed to Newslaundry on 19 July that the Taliban had released Siddiqui's "disrespected" and "mutilated" corpse only after prolonged negotiations.

[55] Rubin, in his op-ed, claimed to have reviewed photographs and a video of Siddiqui's body from a source in the Indian Government, showing head-injuries and multiple bullet-wounds.