By Naweed Samadi in TOLOnews Online, Nov 19, 2023 at 9:05 PM
NAI, a media-supporting organization in Afghanistan, said that nearly 110 cases of violence against journalists have been recorded in 2023 in Afghanistan.
The head of NAI, Zarif Karimi, said that the cases include arrests, harassment and humiliation of journalists by the security forces.
“Our reports show that we have recorded 108 cases of violence against journalists, which includes various cases including beating, arrest, humiliation and insult and other unlawful action against the journalist,” he said.
This comes as the Afghanistan Journalists Center reported that from March 21 to November 17, 2023, at least 13 directives concerning the media have been issued, exceeding the limited adjustments proposed by the Islamic Emirate in the country’s media laws.
Journalists and media organizations continue to face repercussions based on these directives, they reported.
“The Afghanistan Journalists Center documented a total of 75 incidents violating media freedom in the first six months of the ongoing solar year,” AFJC said. “These incidents involved 33 arrests and 42 instances of threats against journalists and media personnel.”
“The situation of the media family is concerning and we will not have a good future. So we call for early implementation of media law,” said Masror Lutfi, head of the Union of Journalists of Afghanistan.
The journalists, who were interviewed by TOLOnews, called on the Islamic Emirate to support the Afghan media.
“The media family and the journalists call on the government to accept freedom of speech meaningfully,” said Zabiullah Sharifi, a journalist.
“We call on the government to be cooperative with the media and solve the challenges ahead of the media,” said Islamuddin Ahmadi, a journalist.
But the Islamic Emirate’s deputy spokesman, Bilal Karimi, told TOLOnews that he cannot confirm the figures provided by the media watchdogs about the situation in Afghanistan.
“We cannot confirm these figures but the Islamic Emirate supports the media within Islamic law and the interest of the country,” he said.
The Islamic Emirate has repeatedly said that the media law has been prepared and sent to the office of the supreme leader, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akunhdzada.
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-186108
