Following the arrest and release of the station’s editor-in-chief and two journalists by the Taliban, Afghanistan’s Radio Nasim, which broadcasts in Daikundi and Bamyan provinces has closed down.
The statiomn said on its Facebook page:
According to the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), members of the de facto Provincial Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) detained Sultan Ali Jawadi, editor-in-chief of Radio Nasim along with two of the station’s journalists, Saifullah Rezai and Mojtaba Qasemi, and Qudratullah Mosawi of Seday-e-Qarya Radio, while they were covering an event attended by local authorities and elders in the provincial capital, Nili on August 6.
They reportedly had their smartphones and a camera confiscated and were taken to the intelligence directorate headquarters for questioning.
While Mosawi was released after a couple of hours, the other three were held and reportedly accused of propaganda against the authorities following the publication of a UN report on the activities of Islamic State Khorasan and Anti-Taliban armed groups in Afghanistan.
All three staff members of Nasim Radio were released around 11:30 p.m., but the officers seized the station’s main broadcasting computer, which led to its shutdown.
Jawadi and two of his colleagues were detained earlier In October 2023, allegedly for publishing propaganda against the de facto authorities. He was sentenced to one year in prison and the station remained closed for five months.
This comes as the International Federation of Journalists recently reported that at least seven journalists and media workers were detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan during the month of July alone. The organization, expressing concern over the growing number of press freedom violations, has called on the Taliban to immediately release all imprisoned journalists and end arbitrary detentions.
AFJC called on de facto authorities to immediately return all confiscated equipment and ensure that media outlet can operate freely and safely.
“The detention of journalists and the shutdown of a local radio station in Daikundi is a clear attack on press freedom. We urge the de facto authorities to cease targeting journalists and to allow independent media to serve the public without fear or interference,” it said.