KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Amnesty International has urged the immediate and unconditional release of journalist Mahdi Ansari, who has been detained by the Taliban since October 2024.
Ansari, 27, who worked with Afghan News Agency, was detained by Taliban intelligence agents on 4 October 2024. The Taliban accused him of spreading propaganda against their authorities, and a court in Kabul last month sentenced him to one and a half years in prison.
In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty International said the Taliban arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned him just because he was “peacefully exercising his human rights.”
The rights group said the journalist has been denied a fair trial, legal representation, and regular family visits.
“While in detention, Mahdi Ansari has faced ill-treatment, including solitary confinement, his mental health has deteriorated, and he has been denied regular family visits,” Amnesty International said.
“He must be immediately and unconditionally released as he is detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his human rights,” it added.
Several media watchdogs, including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Afghan Independent Journalists Union (AIJU), and the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), have also called for his release.
The case is not an isolated one. In 2023, a Taliban court in Daykundi province sentenced Sultan Ali Jawadi, the manager of Radio Nasim, to one year in prison on similar charges.
Since seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has imposed severe restrictions on press freedom, including issuing at least 21 directives limiting access to information. The regime has detained, tortured, and even killed numerous journalists.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), in its 2024 annual report, documented 131 threats and 50 detentions of journalists during the year. It noted that five journalists are currently serving prison sentences ranging from one to five years.
