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After two years of authorized ambiguity and stringent restrictions on free press, de facto Taliban authorities have submitted a draft of a brand new Afghanistan media regulation for approval by their supreme chief.
The draft, shrouded in secrecy till now, will regulate the Islamist management’s fraught and generally combative relationship with journalists in addition to state and personal media our bodies.
With no parliament or a structure within the Taliban’s self-declared Islamic Emirate, solely the reclusive supreme chief, Hibatullah Akhundzada, holds unchecked energy over the destiny of the nation’s legal guidelines, together with the brand new media regulation.
In an unique interview with VOA, the Taliban’s chief spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, unveiled some particulars of the brand new regulation.
‘About 70% of it [the draft] is taken from the outdated regulation,’ mentioned Mujahid, including that the modifications that had been made are aimed toward aligning the regulation with Islamic Sharia regulation. The media regulation enacted underneath the earlier Afghan authorities additionally required that every one media actions be in accordance with Islamic regulation.
When requested about gender-based restrictions within the new regulation, the Taliban spokesperson mentioned no such restrictions are stipulated within the new draft and that ‘all of the residents of Afghanistan’ would be capable of arrange, handle and work for media entities.
International media, together with worldwide broadcasters such because the BBC and Voice of America together with freelance journalists, might be allowed to function in Afghanistan supplied that they adjust to home legal guidelines.
Within the backdrop of Afghanistan’s efforts to domesticate democratic establishments during the last 20 years, media retailers and press advocacy teams thrived on funding and help from worldwide donors.
Nonetheless, the Taliban have proven deep suspicion about Western-funded packages in help of democracy and human rights, and Mujahid didn’t make clear if Afghan media retailers might be allowed to obtain international funding.
‘The regulation requires that funding sources should be clear,’ he mentioned emphatically.
Journalists sidelined
VOA spoke to a number of media help organizations and journalists in Afghanistan who mentioned they weren’t consulted by Taliban authorities when drafting the brand new media regulation.
‘We had been anticipating that we might a minimum of present some inputs, however sadly no alternative was supplied,’ mentioned Abdul Qadeem Wyar, president of the Afghan Journalists Security Committee (AJSC).
‘Not a single feminine journalist was consulted,’ mentioned a feminine journalist who didn’t need to be named on this article, fearing Taliban persecution.
One other feminine journalist, who additionally didn’t need to be named, decried the Taliban’s unilateral policymaking for the media as ‘despotic’ saying ‘journalists will not be criminals with no civil rights.’
Since seizing energy in 2021, the Taliban have imposed gender-based restrictions on journalists reminiscent of obligatory facemasks for girls on tv. Consequently, greater than 80% of the nation’s feminine journalists have been compelled to stop their job, based on Reporters With out Borders.
Dozens of journalists detained
The Taliban have reportedly detained dozens of journalists and media personnel during the last two years, some had been allegedly tortured, however most had been launched after spending days or perhaps weeks in detention.
Most journalists had been arrested by the Taliban’s Common Directorate for Intelligence, the GDI, a feared company that has additionally reportedly detained and at instances tortured human rights activists.
The arrests of journalists are carried out in violation of the present media regulation, which duties a Media Complaints and Rights Violations Fee to find out violations and refer instances to judicial our bodies with out involving the intelligence company.
Within the new draft regulation, the MCRVC is preserved, though the GDI might intervene in issues of nationwide safety, based on Taliban officers.
Whereas it’s unclear if and when the Taliban supreme chief would bestow his approval on the brand new media regulation, the mere existence of the regulation is perceived as a optimistic step.
‘Higher have a regulation than no regulation,’ mentioned Wyar from the AJSC, who cautiously expressed optimism that the regulation would legalize and defend journalism underneath a authorities that’s solely dominated by decrees from an unseen supreme chief to date.
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