Ankara: The Washington Post has been directed to reinstate its opinion columnist, Karen Attiah, and compensate her with back wages after an arbitrator determined that her dismissal following comments on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was unjust.

According to Anadolu Agency, the arbitrator's decision, issued last Thursday, concluded that the Washington Post did not have 'good and sufficient cause' to terminate Attiah's employment, thereby breaching its labor agreement. The New York Times reported on Monday that arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa stated, 'The Washington Post failed to establish the grievant engaged in gross misconduct.'

Attiah, who lost her job in September of the previous year, expressed satisfaction with the ruling on the social media platform Bluesky. She stated, 'After the Washington Post fired me last year for speaking the truth in the wake of the Charlie Kirk killing, I fought back. And I'm happy to announce: I won my case against the Washington Post. They have been ordered to reinstate me immediately.'

The termination was a result of social media comments made by Attiah on September 10, the day of Kirk's assassination. On Bluesky, she criticized the expectation to mourn Kirk, whom she described as a 'white man that espoused violence,' labeling public mourning as performative.

The Washington Post justified the dismissal by claiming that Attiah's remarks compromised the newspaper's 'integrity' and violated its standards for civility and respect on social media. In her defense, Attiah argued that her posts were consistent with her role as an opinion writer and contended that the Post breached its own social media policy by terminating her.