(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: COVERING THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN Reporters Without Borders asks the Taliban authorities to release Japanese journalist Yanagida Daigen on the occasion of the start of Ramadan Reporters Without Borders is taking action to obtain the quick release of journalist Yanagida Daigen, who has been detained by […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release:
COVERING THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
Reporters Without Borders asks the Taliban authorities to release Japanese journalist Yanagida Daigen on the occasion of the start of Ramadan
Reporters Without Borders is taking action to obtain the quick release of journalist Yanagida Daigen, who has been detained by the Taliban in Jalalabad for twenty-one days. “We solemnly ask the Kabul authorities to release Yanagida Daigen as Ramadan will soon begin,” Robert Ménard urged. RSF asked Paris Match reporter Michel Peyrard and Sunday Express journalist Yvonne Ridley, both recently released by the Taliban, to make statements in support of the Japanese journalist’s release. Their messages follow:
A Japanese journalist has been detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan since 23 October. Together with Reporters Without Borders, Michel Peyrard, a recently released French journalist, launches a call to those who detain Yanagida Daigen:
“His name is Daigen Yanagida. A thirty-six year old Japanese writer and journalist who was arrested by the Taliban two weeks ago in Kunhar, Afghanistan. He is imprisoned in Jalalabad. I shared a room, a prison cell, with Daigen. He is an exceptional man, a tireless traveller and chronicler of the human soul. Since the age of twenty, he has been roaming the five continents from Africa to Antarctica, because of his relentless curiosity for people. It was this which brought him to the war in Afghanistan. He is writing a book about the country. Daigen is responding to his detention with complete serenity but is concerned about the time factor. When I left him, he had still not been questioned by the intelligence services. It is time now for the Taliban to recognize his status: that of a free man, exercising his profession.”
A Japanese journalist has been detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan since 23 October. Together with Reporters Without Borders, Yvonne Ridley, a recently released British journalist, launches a call to those who detain Yanagida Daigen.
“Yanagida Daigen is a freelance Japanese journalist. I am appealing to the Taliban to show him the same compassion and kindness they showed to me. I would also make a direct plea to Mullah Omar and beg him to issue a release as soon as possible. Yanagida, Michel and myself are journalists who want to tell the best stories and sometimes we are forced into desperate situations to be able to do this. And I would ask the Taliban to please understand our situation as professional journalists.”
These messages, recorded in French, English, Farsi and Japanese, with the assistance of Radio France Internationale, have been transmitted to international radio stations that broadcast to Afghanistan. RSF also transmitted to the media a letter from Yanagida Daigen’s sister asking for the journalist’s release. The recordings are available on the website www.rsf.org.
RSF has obtained new information about the Japanese journalist’s situation. According to Irfan Qureshi, a Pakistani journalist who was released by the Taliban on 10 November, Yanagida Daigen is increasingly anxious about a possible quick release. Interviewed by RSF, Irfan Qureshi, a guide of Paris Match journalist Michel Peyrard, reported Yanagida’s words: “I can spend six months with the Taliban, but they should at least tell me when they are going to release me.” According to Irfan Qureshi, the Japanese journalist fears that his detention will continue indefinitely.
The Taliban first put Yanagida in a cell with common law prisoners, but at Michel Peyrard and Irfan Qureshi’s request, the Japanese journalist was transferred to an individual cell near theirs. “It was a real relief for him, because he could speak to us in English,” Irfan Qureshi explained. Finally, according to the Pakistani journalist, the leader of the Taliban secret services that detain Yanagida is reported to have declared: “His case is pretty straightforward and he can be released soon.”
