Ayaz Gul VOA News July 31, 2021 ISLAMABAD – Human rights and media freedom advocates are urging authorities in Afghanistan to release four journalists arrested this week on charges they were “spreading enemy propaganda.” It was not immediately known whether the journalists have formally been charged, nor have Afghan authorities discussed their fate since taking
Abubakar Siddique RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi July 28, 2021 Sadaf Siddiqi, a pseudonym for a young Afghan journalist, began her career with great hopes five years ago. She freelanced for local and national media outlets in the northeastern Afghan city of Kunduz, where she soon became a known face after becoming a presenter at a local
VOA News July 27, 2021 Four journalists have been arrested on propaganda charges in Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Tuesday. They were arrested in the city of Kandahar after traveling to the disputed border town of Spin Boldak to interview commanders of the Taliban, which has been clashing with Afghan security forces, according to the Afghan
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News July 25, 2021 ISLAMABAD – The day the Taliban entered Balkh district, 20 km west of Mazar e Sharif, the capital of Balkh province last month, local radio station Nawbahar shuttered its doors and most of its journalists went into hiding. Within days the station started broadcasting again, but the programming
Liam Scott, Nike Ching, Jeff Seldin VOA News July 22, 2021 WASHINGTON – A coalition of more than two dozen U.S. news outlets and press freedom organizations is calling on the U.S. government to help protect Afghans who worked with foreign media and may face risks from the Taliban as a result. Letters to President Joe Biden and
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 4, 2021 ISLAMABAD – The Taliban seized a district in southern Afghanistan Friday without facing any resistance from Afghan government security forces, bringing to seven the number of districts the insurgents have overrun since the United States and its NATO allies began withdrawing their troops from the country a month
1TV: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has asked International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to investigate murders of journalists and media workers in Afghanistan since March 2020, involving 11 deaths. It said that such murders could be regarded as war crimes. Click here to read more (external link).
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 6, 2021 ISLAMABAD – Media advocates and international partners of Afghanistan have denounced the Taliban insurgency for threatening local journalists for allegedly not being impartial in their reporting of the country’s long war. The warning coincided with allegations that the chief of the Afghan spy agency had also made a
1TV: Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Twitter claimed that some media outlets have been disseminating NDS propaganda and are not maintaining impartiality. He warned of actions if this continues. Meanwhile, NDS chief Zia Siraj, speaking in a closed-door session of parliament, said that some TV stations spreading propaganda benefiting the Taliban is shocking and will
VOA News: Assassins are killing Afghan journalists and forcing others to quit. The planned US pullout could make things worse. Click here to read more (external link).