Taliban detain journalists over report on TV present censoring

Taliban intelligence males got here within the night time to arrest three workers of TOLO TV, considered one of Afghanistan’s largest tv stations, a channel govt mentioned on Friday.

The nation’s new rulers apparently didn’t like a narrative the broadcaster aired on their determination to ban overseas drama collection from native tv, mentioned Khpalwak Sapai, head of TOLONews, who was among the many three arrested.

Sapai, and Nafay Khaleeq, the station’s authorized adviser, had been launched inside hours, however the station presenter, Bahram Aman was nonetheless in custody Friday, Sapai advised The Associated Press.

The intelligence officers from the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) got here shortly after 8 pm Thursday to arrest the three. Sapai mentioned the station was nonetheless in search of the discharge of Aman.

Moby Group, the media firm that owns TOLO TV, mentioned the detentions had been “for publishing Tolo news about banning of the foreign drama series,” a choice made by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The Afghan-owned media firm has pursuits in South and Central Asia in addition to the Middle East and Africa.

The arrests had been met with worldwide outcry, together with broader calls for from the UN and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) for the nation’s rulers to cease harassing native journalists and stifling free expression by way of threats, arrests and intimidation.

“The Taliban must immediately release journalist Bahram Aman, a news presenter at independent broadcaster TOLOnews, and stop detaining and intimidating members of the Afghanistan press corps,” an announcement from the US-based CPJ mentioned.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) urged the identical.

“UNAMA expresses its deep concern about the detentions of journalists and the ever increasing restrictions being placed on media in Afghanistan,” it mentioned on Twitter. “Time for the Taliban to stop gagging & banning. Time for a constructive dialogue with the Afghan media community.”

Neither the Taliban’s info and tradition ministry nor its intelligence company responded to requests from the AP for remark.

The CPJ assertion mentioned the Taliban’s intelligence service denied the arrests.

Since sweeping again to energy final August, the Taliban have despatched erratic indicators about what the media panorama will appear like beneath their rule, with worldwide journalists generally welcomed and Afghan media usually attacked.

The ranks of journalists in Afghanistan thinned dramatically in the course of the chaotic days of the US withdrawal final August when tens of 1000’s of Afghans fled or had been evacuated by overseas governments and organisations.

Many who stayed, and even those that haven’t had run-ins with the brand new Taliban rulers, say they’re afraid of what tomorrow would possibly deliver.

The majority of TOLONews reporters and producers are girls as a result of Sapai, who was briefly detained, mentioned he made a particular effort to recruit and practice Afghan girls journalists.

In December Reporters Without Borders and the Afghan Independent Journalist Association discovered that 231 out of 543 media retailers had closed, whereas greater than 6,400 journalists misplaced their jobs after the Taliban takeover.

The retailers closed for lack of funds or as a result of journalists had left the nation, based on the report.