The Seday-e-Banowan [Women's Voice] radio station has resumed operations after being suspended for a week. The Afghanistan Journalists Center said that the suspension sets a dangerous precedent.
This statement was originally published on afjc.media on 7 April 2023.
The Seday-e-Banowan [Women’s Voice] radio station in the northeast province of Banakhshan has resumed its broadcasts after officials shut it down for a week for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan.
“The door of Banowan radio station was unlocked and resumed its broadcast today around 11:45 am after we gave a commitment to officials at the information and culture department,” station head Najia Sorosh told the AFJC
Hekmatullah Mohammadi, the director for information at the Information and Culture department in Badakhshan province, said the station went off the air on March 30 due to broadcasting “songs during Ramadan.” “The station had violated the “laws and regulations of the Islamic emirate” several times by broadcasting songs and music during Ramadan and was shuttered because of the breach,” he added
AFJC said: “We welcome the resumption of broadcasting by Banowan radio station in Faizabad as a positive step, but the sudden closure of the radio station is against the Afghan media law and sets a dangerous precedent and we remain concerned about the implications for press freedom in Afghanistan.”
The Taliban have banned music on television and radio channels following the takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban banned most television, radio, and newspapers in the country.
