Naqiba Barekzai Abubakar Siddique August 29, 2023 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Hora Sadat, a female YouTuber, built a large social-media following by producing light-hearted videos about life in Afghanistan. Even after the Taliban seized power in 2021, the 25-year-old remained unfazed. She continued to generate content for her more than 300,000 subscribers despite the militant group’s attempts
Khaama: After two years of uncertainty and press restrictions, the Taliban has presented a draft for a new media law in Afghanistan, seeking approval from their leader. Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson of the de facto administration, revealed that the country’s new media law draft has been finished and forwarded to the supreme leader for approval.
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi August 23, 2023 An Afghan press freedom organization has called for the release of an Iranian photojournalist detained by the Taliban, which has arrested around a dozen reporters over the past two weeks. The semioffical Tasnim news agency in Iran reported on August 22 that Taliban security agents had apprehended its
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi August 16, 2023 International press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for the release of nine Afghan journalists arbitrarily arrested by Taliban security forces this month. Antoine Bernard, RSF’s director of advocacy and assistance, said on August 16 that RSF wants the “unconditional release” of all nine Afghan journalists. “The
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi August 14, 2023 Two more journalists have been arrested by Taliban authorities in southern Afghanistan, where women’s voices were also barred from radio broadcasts. A source who requested anonymity told RFE/RL that Taliban forces arrested journalists Attaullah Omar and Waheedur Rahman Afghanmal in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on August 13. Omar is
Ayaz Gul VOA News August 12, 2023 ISLAMABAD — Media freedom defenders have called on Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to immediately release at least nine journalists currently in prison for their work and stop their “brutal” crackdown on national press members. Operatives of the Taliban’s spy agency, the General Directorate of Intelligence, or GDI, arrested five journalists
The Hill: Almost two years after American soldiers swiftly packed and left the nation’s longest-running war in Afghanistan, the Taliban are still targeting tens of thousands of Afghans left behind. Among them are Afghan women journalists. The United States recognized the risks Afghanistan’s female journalists would face under a Taliban takeover. Click here to read
8am: According to anonymous local sources, who spoke to Hasht-e Subh, the incident occurred on Tuesday, August 1st, when Taliban members attacked the media outlet and expelled its staff before shutting down the office. Meanwhile, Atal Khan Stanikzai, the director of the media outlet, stated that the Taliban attacked the office without any prior coordination.
8am: According to the sources cited by Hasht-e Subh, the journalists were detained on Monday, July 31, in Mazar-e-Sharif, the center of Balkh province. Since regaining control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have been severely interfering with the media and journalists, occasionally resorting to arrests, beatings, and imprisonment. This incident follows the detention of a local
Akmal Dawi VOA News July 27, 2023 WASHINGTON — Journalists in Afghanistan are facing a new requirement from the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture to register and obtain identification cards in order to verify their identities and professional affiliations. “We started the process in Kabul on Wednesday and have informed provincial authorities to do the