Taliban Detained Journalists in Six Provinces, Says United Nations

With an increase in the detention of Afghan journalists by the Taliban, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced that the group has detained media workers in six provinces in the past ten days.

Earlier, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) had also announced the detention of nine journalists by the Taliban in the last 10 days.

On Thursday, UNAMA added that the organisation seeks to remind the Taliban of their “obligations under international law to respect, uphold and promote rights to freedom of opinion and expression”.

The UN agency also mentioned the rights of all those in custody, including the right to meet with their families, access to a lawyer, and be informed of the charges against them.

Without providing the details about media workers’ detention, UNAMA stressed that Mortaza Behboudi, an Afghan French journalist, and Matiullah Wesa, an activist for girls' education, are being held by the Taliban too.

During the last two years, the Taliban has widely suppressed the media and arrested and tortured journalists.

According to the recent report by "Afghan Witness", a UK-based group, at least 98 journalists and media workers have been detained by the Taliban in the last two years.

Nai, an organisation supporting Open Media in Afghanistan, on Friday, announced that the Taliban have detained five journalists in the past week.

On August 14, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on the Taliban to end the "relentless campaign" of suppression and intimidation of the media in Afghanistan.

According to CPJ, the Taliban has continued "censorship, beatings, and arbitrary detentions of journalists" in the last two years in Afghanistan.