KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban Ministry of Justice has shut the Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) and the Tebyan Cultural Center in Kabul and detained a journalist and five staff members, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the AFJC, citing sources in Kabul, said the Taliban Ministry of Justice forces raided the building shared by the two organizations in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood on Thursday, Sept. 24, and sealed their offices.
The watchdog said Zamen Ali Chawoshi, a journalist with AVA, and five employees of the Tebyan Cultural Center were summoned to the Ministry of Justice two days later on Saturday. They were detained after entering the ministry’s premises, it added.
Tebyan is a Shia-affiliated religious and cultural organization founded in Kabul in March 2002, according to the AFJC. AVA operates under its umbrella. The centre was the target of a suicide bombing in December 2017 that killed dozens of people, including at least 10 AVA staff members and contributors.
Taliban authorities have not provided any explanation for the closures or the detentions.
The AFJC called for the immediate and unconditional release of Chawoshi and the reopening of the outlet. “The closure of AVA and detention of Zamen Ali Chawoshi is the latest escalation in the Taliban’s systematic crackdown on independent media,” the group said. “We call on the de facto authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Chawoshi, reopen AVA, and allow their staff to work freely without threat of detention.”
The incident forms part of a series of recent actions against media, religious, educational and medical facilities, particularly those linked to the Shia community in areas such as Dasht-e-Barchi. Two days before the AVA and Tebyan closures, Taliban forces raided and closed the Fatima al-Zahra Clinic in the same neighborhood. On July 27 the Ministry of Justice closed Seday-e-Eslah Radio (Voice of Reform), and on June 23 it shut Tamadon TV.
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, they have imposed sweeping restrictions on media and journalistic work. The AFJC says it has documented the arrest and imprisonment of nearly 300 journalists and media workers for alleged violations of the Taliban’s media directives, as well as the closure of dozens of outlets due to charges or mounting restrictions.
