Taliban Detained Ten Journalists Between Early July and Early August

Taliban intelligence forces arrested three journalists from the local radio station Nasim on Wednesday in Nili, the capital of Daikundi province. According to an official statement by Radio Nasim on Facebook, the detainees are Sultan Ali Jawadi, the station’s director, and two reporters, Saifullah Rezaei and Mojtaba Qasemi. The reasons for their arrest have not been disclosed.

These three journalists had been previously detained by the Taliban in the summer of 2023. At that time, Sultan Ali Jawadi was sentenced to one year in prison on charges of cooperating with foreign media, and Radio Nasim’s operations were suspended for five months.

According to Radio Nasim, the station’s broadcasting computer was also confiscated by Taliban forces.

On August 5, International Federation of Journalists released a report stating that between July 6 and July 30, at least seven journalists were detained by the Taliban.

According to the report, Abuzar Sarepoli, director of the TAWANA News Agency and head of the Afghanistan Media Institute, along with his two colleagues Basheer Hatef and Shakeeb Ahmad Nazari, were arrested on July 24 by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Their place of detention remains unknown.

The Taliban accused these three journalists of receiving funds from organizations such as UNAMA, UNESCO, and the Iranian government to promote women’s employment and publish critical reports against the Taliban. After their arrest, they faced charges of “espionage” and “moral corruption,” and their forced confessions were recorded and broadcast on media. Their current status is unknown.

Ahmad Nawid Asghari and Mushtaq Ahmad Halimi, director and deputy director of the content production company Pixel Media, were also arrested in Kabul on July 15 on charges of dubbing TV series deemed “un-Islamic” by the Taliban. Following forced confessions on television, they were released on July 30.

The report also mentions an unidentified media worker detained in Kabul on July 21 on charges of providing technical support to exiled Afghan media. There is no information about his current whereabouts.

On July 6, an unnamed provincial journalist was arrested for publishing a report contrary to the Taliban’s views but was released after two days upon signing a commitment to comply with Taliban media guidelines.

International Federation of Journalists warned that the ongoing arrests, coupled with increasing restrictions, reflect the Taliban’s blatant disregard for freedom of expression and pose a serious threat to the future of independent media in Afghanistan.

Together with the Afghan Independent Journalists Union, they called on the Taliban to immediately release all detained journalists and cease repressive actions against independent and critical media outlets.