Afghan media facing ever-increasing restrictions by Taliban

With the consistent arbitrary arrests of journalists by the Taliban, the media in Afghanistan faces ever-increasing restrictions, reported local media.

In the latest incident of such arbitrary detention, an Afghan TV host and presenter Moheb Jalili had been abducted and tortured by the Taliban members in Kabul city on Saturday, Khaama Press reported citing sources.

Confirming his detention in an interview with Hasht-e-Subh, Jalili said that he is not sure of the crime for which the Taliban detained and tortured him.

In another similar incident, a local journalist Sharif Hassanyar said that his co-worker has been "badly beaten", adding that Afghan media practitioners are "paying the price of freedom of expression."

Further, the manager of Rasa TV Jamshi Ahamad Ahmadi was shot wounded by unidentified people in Kabul, reported the media outlet citing the sources.

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August last year, it rolled back women's rights advances and media freedom revoking the efforts on gender equality and freedom of speech in the country.

Earlier on March 17, the Taliban detained at least three employees of TOLOnews, Afghanistan's largest television station, over violation of the latest policies where broadcasting foreign drama series was banned.

Following the arrests, the Taliban's secret service, in a statement, warned that it would not violation of "Islamic principles" or any threat to the "mental and psychological security" of the Afghan people, reported the media outlet.

Further on March 28, the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence raided at least four radio stations in the southern province of Kandahar for violating the recent ban on music, detaining six media practitioners, reported the Afghan new agency.

According to sources, a number of journalists have reported they have been harassed, beaten, and detained by the Taliban without a clear objection to their practices.

The ever-increasing restrictions against media in Afghanistan have also drawn widespread criticism globally with the United Nations (UN) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) decrying the arrests, demanding the Taliban stop harassing local journalists and stifling freedom of speech through continued detentions and threats.

While the United Nations Assistant Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has also expressed concern over the situation of media in the country, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have written to Richard Bennett, the UN's new special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, calling for urgent action to defend journalists and press freedom in Afghanistan, where arbitrary arrests are on the rise and a climate of fear has taken hold in all media outlets.

( With inputs from ANI )

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