AFJC: “The Rights of Media and Journalists Have Been Widely Violated”

On the occasion of the National Day of Journalists, the Afghan Journalists Center (AFJC), by publishing its annual report on the situation of journalists and media in 1402/2023, has announced the worsening situation of journalists and media in the past year.
This organization stated in its published report that the media and journalists in 1402 experienced severe restrictions on their freedom and enjoyment of their fundamental and legal rights and their rights were widely violated.
In the announcement of the Afghanistan Journalists Center, it is stated: “In the last 12 months, the pressure on the media and journalists and their threats continued more intensively than the previous year, and the basis of that was the instructions that, despite the public media law being said as applicable, from It has been issued by the Taliban government and local authorities.
In another part of this organization’s announcement, it is mentioned that the four orders issued in 1402, although nothing was clearly said about the consequences of journalists and media refusing to implement them, but the findings indicate that journalists and media who have disobeyed the orders, been threatened or imprisoned, or even faced with banning their activity and blocking permanent or temporary the media.
In this report, violations of the rights of journalists and media are mentioned in two ways; systematic violation of media rights due to the caretaker government as well as the individual actions of powerful officials in some provinces.
In the annual report of the Afghan Journalists Center, 139 cases of media and journalists’ rights violations were recorded in 1402, including 80 cases of threats and 59 cases of arrest.
Compared to the year 1401, which included 237 cases of violations of journalists’ rights, in which 1 person was killed and 21 were injured, this statistic shows a decrease, because last year there were no targeted attacks on journalists and no deaths or injuries. They have not been reported. This has been mentioned as a positive and promising development, but the lack of change in terms of quality and structure has been mentioned and a worrying turn has been observed in which the single-mindedness and exercise of power by a number of powerful Taliban officials in some provinces is prominent.
Also, 8 cases of banning media activities, including banning a joint journalism training course for men and women, halting the activities of five local radio stations for several days, and blocking one national radio station for 5 months, are among other restrictions that, according to this report, during the last year Applied.
The trial of the officials of two national radio stations on charges of criminal offenses and cooperation with foreign media and espionage and the sentencing of each of these officials to one year in prison are among the other cases mentioned in the report.
In this report, the Intelligence Department and the Ministry of Public Proclamation and Prohibition of Denial of the Caretaker Government are mentioned as institutions that directly and indirectly played a role in arresting and threatening journalists and media. At the same time, the efforts of the Ministry of Information and Culture regarding the handling of complaints and violations through a special commission have been mentioned, which has not had tangible success due to the power and pressure of the representatives of the intelligence agencies.
Nevertheless, Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the caretaker government, said in a message on the occasion of National Journalist’s Day that he wants more services for Afghan journalists within the framework of Islamic values and the country’s national interests.