Taliban authorities have released nine local journalists amid a widespread crackdown on media freedom and media workers in Afghanistan.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said in a statement on Tuesday that these journalists were released following a “campaign of arrests targeting foreign or exiled media outlets.”
The statement indicated that Habibullah Sarab, a journalist from Paktia province, and Parvez Sargan, a journalist from Kunar province, who were imprisoned on August 11, were released from Taliban custody on Saturday. They were reportedly jailed for working for exiled media outlets.
A day earlier, IFJ stated, Mehboob Hakimi, a journalist from Zabul province, was also released from Taliban prison.
Moreover, four media workers, including TOLO News reporter Attaullah Omar, Killid Radio head Faqir Mohammad Faqirzai and reporter Jan Agha Saleh, and Salam Watander reporter Hasib Hassas, were released on August 31 after being reportedly detained on similar allegations.
August remained a particularly grim month for media workers. On August 14, Waheed ur-Rahman Afghanma, a journalist from Kandahar province, was detained and probed about his work, before being released on bail the following day. On August 24, freelancer Shamsullah Omari was released after being detained in a separate incident.
IFJ stated that the Taliban takeover two years ago has seen a “dramatic collapse” of the country’s media sector that was once thriving, with journalists remaining vulnerable to Taliban’s arrest, harassment, torture, and other ill-treatment
Taliban has on several occasions also detained, beaten, and abused foreign journalists, including Mortzad Behboudi, an Afghanistan-born French journalist who has been held in Taliban custody since January.
The International Federation of Journalists welcomed the new releases and called on the Taliban authorities to “immediately free all media workers still in custody and work to protect the safety and security of all journalists in Afghanistan.”
