The new detentions bring the total number of journalists held this week to five. Currently, at least nine journalists are in custody in the country.
This statement was originally published on afjc.media on 11 August 2023.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) is extremely alarmed about the detention of two journalists in Northeastern Kunduz Province and Southeastern Paktia Province, bringing the total number of journalists detained and held this week to five.
Sources in Kunduz province, who asked to remain anonymous due to security concerns, said:” On Thursday, August 10 around 9 am, members of the Taliban General Directorate of Security (GDI) entered the office of Uranus TV network in the provincial capital Kunduz, and detained Hasib Hassas, a local reporter for the Kabul-based Salamwatandar radio station, seized his laptop and smartphone and transferred him to the GDI detention center.” “A month earlier, Hasib Hassas shared concerns with close friends about the threatening messages he was receiving from unknown individuals via the messaging app, Telegram.”
Also, on the same day, in southeastern Paktia province, GDI agents detained and held a local reporter for the Kabul-based ArianaNews TV, Habibullah Sarab, in the provincial capital Gardiz.
Local authorities in Kunduz and Paktia provinces have not commented on the journalists’ detentions and the circumstances leading to their arrest remain undisclosed at this time.
The detentions mark the latest moves in a broad crackdown on media in Afghanistan. On Thursday, two reporters for the Killid radio station in eastern Nangarhar province were detained by the GDI. Earlier this week, Sayed Wahdatullah Abdali, a reporter for the state-run news agency Bakhtar, was detained in Southern Ghazni province. The new detentions bring the total number of journalists held this week to five. Currently, at least nine journalists are in custody in the country.
AFJC said: “We strongly condemn the detention of Hasib Hassas and Habibullah Sarab. This is a serious violation of journalists’ rights and we call on the Taliban authorities to release the nine journalists currently in prison and to stop arresting journalists for doing their jobs.”
