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Taliban intelligence males got here within the evening to arrest three workers of TOLO TV, certainly one of Afghanistan’s largest tv stations, a channel government stated Friday.
The nation’s new rulers apparently didn’t like a narrative the broadcaster aired on their choice to ban overseas drama collection from native tv, stated Khpalwak Sapai, head of TOLONews, who was among the many three arrested.
Sapai, and Nafay Khaleeq, the station’s authorized adviser, had been launched inside hours, however the station presenter, Bahram Aman was nonetheless in custody Friday, Sapai instructed The Related Press.
The intelligence officers from the Taliban’s Basic Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) got here shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday to arrest the three. Sapai stated the station was nonetheless in search of the discharge of Aman.
Moby Group, the media firm that owns TOLO TV, stated the detentions had been “for publishing Tolo information about banning of the overseas drama collection,” a choice made by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Advantage and Prevention of Vice.
The Afghan-owned media firm has pursuits in South and Central Asia in addition to the Center East and Africa.
The arrests had been met with worldwide outcry, together with broader calls for from the U.N. and the Committee to Defend Journalists (CPJ) for the nation’s rulers to cease harassing native journalists and stifling free expression via threats, arrests and intimidation.
“The Taliban should instantly launch journalist Bahram Aman, a information presenter at impartial broadcaster TOLOnews, and cease detaining and intimidating members of the Afghanistan press corps, ” a press release from the U.S.-based CPJ stated.
The United Nations Help Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) urged the identical.
“UNAMA expresses its deep concern concerning the detentions of journalists and the ever growing restrictions being positioned on media in Afghanistan,” it stated on Twitter. “Time for the Taliban to cease gagging & banning. Time for a constructive dialogue with the Afghan media neighborhood.”
Neither the Taliban’s info and tradition ministry nor its intelligence company responded to requests from the AP for remark.
The CPJ assertion stated the Taliban’s intelligence service denied the arrests.
Since sweeping again to energy final August, the Taliban have despatched erratic indicators about what the media panorama will appear like beneath their rule, with worldwide journalists generally welcomed and Afghan media typically attacked.
The ranks of journalists in Afghanistan thinned dramatically throughout the chaotic days of the U.S. withdrawal final August when tens of 1000’s of Afghans fled or had been evacuated by overseas governments and organizations. Many who stayed, and even those that haven’t had run-ins with the brand new Taliban rulers, say they’re afraid of what tomorrow would possibly carry.
Nearly all of TOLONews reporters and producers are girls as a result of Sapai, who was briefly detained, stated he made a particular effort to recruit and prepare Afghan girls journalists.
In December Reporters With out Borders and the Afghan Unbiased Journalist Affiliation discovered that 231 out of 543 media retailers had closed, whereas greater than 6,400 journalists misplaced their jobs after the Taliban takeover. The retailers closed for lack of funds or as a result of journalists had left the nation, based on the report.
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