(CPJ/IFEX) – On 28 June 1999, CPJ received assurances from the Taliban’s representative in New York, Abdul Hakeem Mujahid, that members of the media will not be punished for disseminating information deemed “anti-Taliban.” On 24 June, CPJ sent a letter to the Taliban’s leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, expressing its concern regarding a 22 June announcement […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – On 28 June 1999, CPJ received assurances from the Taliban’s
representative in New York, Abdul Hakeem Mujahid, that members of the
media will not be punished for disseminating information deemed
“anti-Taliban.”
On 24 June, CPJ sent a letter to the Taliban’s leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar,
expressing its concern regarding a 22 June announcement that seemed to
indicate
that those who spread reports unflattering to the regime would be sentenced
to
five years in prison. Omar broadcast the decree over the Pashto-language
Radio
Shariat, which is controlled by the Taliban.
According to Mujahid, who spoke with officials from the Taliban’s Ministry
of
Information and Culture in Kabul on 28 June, the decree was not directed
against journalists, but against those who attack and harass foreign aid
workers
in Afghanistan.
CPJ welcomes this clarification, but remains disturbed by the overwhelmingly
restrictive conditions under which journalists work in Afghanistan.
