Taliban sentences Afghan journalist Mahdi Ansary to 18 months in prison
New York, January 17, 2025—A Taliban court in the capital Kabul on January 1 sentenced Afghan News Agency reporter Mahdi Ansary to 18 months in prison on charges of disseminating anti-Taliban propaganda. “Mahdi Ansary’s unjust sentence is indicative of the Taliban’s continued brutality and suppression of press freedom in Afghanistan,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s…
Bypassing the ‘Taliban firewall’: How an exile newsroom reports on Afghan women
Faisal Karimi and Wahab Siddiqi, respectively founder and editor-in-chief of the Afghanistan Women’s News Agency, were among the first journalists to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban retook control of the country in August 2021. After escaping the country undetected with nearly two dozen newsroom colleagues and family members a week after the fall of Kabul,…
Taliban detain 7 Arezo TV journalists, seal network’s offices in Kabul
New York, December 5, 2024—Dozens of Taliban agents from the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) raided the offices of private broadcaster Arezo TV on December 4 in the capital, Kabul, questioned staff members for four hours, and detained seven journalists and media workers. Woman journalists were expelled from the premises, and the network’s offices were…
Taliban bans television broadcasts and public filming and photographing in Takhar province
New York, October 28, 2024—On October 13, the Taliban banned television operations and the filming and photographing of people in public spaces in northeast Takhar province according to a local journalist who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists under the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal from the Taliban, and media reports. “The Taliban’s latest ban on…
Taliban intelligence agents detain journalists Hekmat Aryan and Mahdi Ansary
New York, October 8, 2024—Taliban authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalists Hekmat Aryan and Mahdi Ansary, who were detained by General Directorate of Intelligence agents in Afghanistan’s southern Ghazni province and the capital Kabul, respectively, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. “Taliban intelligence must release journalists Mahdi Ansary and Hekmat Aryan immediately and…
Taliban ban live political broadcasts, step up censorship
New York, September 24, 2024—The Taliban must reverse their directive banning live broadcasts of political shows, criticism of the group, and interviews with analysts not on a list of 68 pre-approved names, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On September 21, the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture summoned media executives in the capital…
Taliban jams Afghanistan International broadcasts in Kabul
New York, September 23, 2024 —The Taliban must stop transmitting disruptive signals to prevent residents in the Afghan capital Kabul watching the popular London-based Afghanistan International on television, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. “The Taliban must immediately cease jamming Afghanistan International’s broadcasts, which marks a new low in their shameful campaign to silence…
Taliban label Afghanistan International an ‘enemy’ for reporting on alleged aid misuse
New York, September 11, 2024—The Taliban must stop harassing the popular London-based broadcaster Afghanistan International, which they accused of conducting a “propaganda war against us,” the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. In his September 4 speech, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Stanekzai attacked the independent outlet as an “enemy” for reporting that aid relief sent…
New law grants Taliban morality police fresh powers to censor Afghan media
New York, August 23, 2024— The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about a new law, to be enforced by the Taliban’s morality police, which bans journalists from publishing or broadcasting content that they believe violates Sharia law or insults Muslims. “The Law for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice grants…
Arrests, bans, shutdowns: No end in sight to Taliban media crackdown 3 years on
New York, August 14, 2024—As the Taliban mark the third anniversary of their return to power, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the group to halt their unprecedented destruction of Afghanistan’s media and brutal repression of journalists. “Grave injustices are the hallmark of the Taliban’s rule,” CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi said…