By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi January 21, 2022 The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan had already left free speech and media freedoms out in the cold. A recent spate of mysterious attacks on activists and journalists has raised fears that the worst may be yet to come. The situation took an alarming turn last week with
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 13, 2022 Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the Taliban’s return to power following the complete withdrawal of the U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan in August has aggravated the humanitarian and economic situation in the war-torn country amid an abrupt deterioration of human rights. “The Taliban victory propelled Afghanistan from humanitarian crisis
8am: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reported today that 45 journalists and media workers were killed in 2021 while on duty in 20 countries. The highest death toll was in Afghanistan, according to the (IFJ) report. Click here to read more (external link).
VOA News December 28, 2021 The Taliban on Tuesday released a prominent Afghan TV station owner who was detained for two days, according to the independent media monitoring group Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC). The Taliban did not say why Mohammad Arif Noori, the founder and owner of Noorin TV, was detained. AFJC in a statement
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi December 27, 2021 Aref Nouri, the head of Afghanistan’s private Nourin television network, has been arrested by the Taliban authorities for unspecified reasons. Nouri’s son, Roman Nouri, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi on December 27 that Taliban security forces arrived at the family’s home in Kabul the day earlier and took his father
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 20, 2021 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August has had a “dramatic” impact on the country’s media, with more than four out of every 10 media outlets having disappeared and 60 percent of journalists and other media workers no longer being able to work.
Radio Azadi: A former Radio Azadi journalist recounts a tense, late-night drive through Taliban checkpoints as he flees from Kabul to Pakistan for an uncertain future. Every time I think about my Pakistani visa expiring, my heart sinks. Afghanistan is too dangerous with the Taliban hunting for people like me, so I just have to
HRW: Taliban intelligence officials have made death threats against journalists who have criticized Taliban officials and have required journalists to submit all reports for approval before publication. New guidelines from the Vice and Virtue Ministry dictate the dress of female journalists on television and prohibit soap operas and entertainment programs featuring female actors. Click here
8am: The spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Zabihullah Mujahid says that the media outlets must observe Islamic values. The operations of many media outlets have been ceased since the Taliban takeover. Click here to read more (external link).
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi November 13, 2021 A bomb attack on a minivan in a Shi’ite neighborhood of Kabul has killed a well-known Afghan television journalist, according to an Afghan media watchdog and the journalist’s wife. The Afghan Journalists’ Center tweeted hours after the November 13 blast in western Kabul’s Dasht-e Barchi neighborhood that the explosion