{"id":17625,"date":"2023-10-24T23:26:12","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T23:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/freed-reporter-criticises-afghan-media-crackdown-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2023-10-24T23:26:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T23:26:12","slug":"freed-reporter-criticises-afghan-media-crackdown-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/freed-reporter-criticises-afghan-media-crackdown-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Freed reporter criticises Afghan media crackdown | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nPARIS:
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Journalist Mortaza Behboudi, who had spent 284 days in jail in Afghanistan, said he thought he would never make it out alive.<\/p>\n

The French-Afghan reporter was covering a gathering of students in front of Kabul University when he was arrested in January this year.<\/p>\n

He was imprisoned just two days after entering Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

What followed next were “10 months of torture,” Behboudi, 29, told a news conference in Paris on Monday following his release from prison last week.<\/p>\n

He said he was beaten by his jailers, nearly choked to death by members of the Islamic State group, and questioned by the Taliban government’s intelligence services.<\/p>\n

“You know in these countries interrogations by intelligence services are not at all easy,” he told the news conference organised by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).<\/p>\n

Behboudi refused to go into detail about the abuse he said he suffered out of concern for other journalists who are still imprisoned in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

“We don’t know if they will be released soon,” Behboudi said.<\/p>\n

Originally from Afghanistan, he became a refugee in France in 2015 where he set up a news site, Guiti News, with other exiles from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

After seizing power in 2021, the Taliban has cracked down hard on what had been seen as a thriving sector.<\/p>\n

“Journalism has largely been stifled since the Taliban came to power,” said Christophe Deloire, RSF director general.<\/p>\n

Read also:\u00a0Death of ailing Pakistani national in Afghan prison prompts concerns<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the press advocacy group, “more than half” of media outlets have disappeared.<\/p>\n

Of the country’s 12,000 journalists, barely 4,800 are still working now, and “more than 80 percent of female journalists” have been forced to quit their jobs, RSF says.<\/p>\n

Behboudi planned to write about female students who could no longer pursue their studies in Kabul when he was arrested.<\/p>\n

Officials had initially promised a softer version of the strict Islamic rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 – 2001, but restrictions affecting women have gradually been reintroduced.<\/p>\n

Teenage girls have been banned from attending most secondary schools and women from universities, and last year women were prohibited from entering parks, funfairs, gyms and public baths.<\/p>\n

Women are also barred from travelling without a male relative and have been told they must cover up, with a veil or burqa when outside the home.<\/p>\n

Most women have lost their government jobs — or are being paid a tiny salary to stay at home.<\/p>\n

Behboudi said neither his French passport nor his press cards saved him from arrest by the Taliban government’s intelligence services. He was accused of being a spy and supporting the anti-Taliban “resistance” and jailed.<\/p>\n

“I felt kidnapped,” he said. He shared tiny cells, measuring just two to three square metres, with a dozen other inmates including members of the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n

He said he was “harassed all the time”, could not see the sky and lost track of time.<\/p>\n

Speaking to broadcaster France Inter on Tuesday, the journalist, who is a representative of the Hazara ethnic minority group, said several members of the Islamic State group tried to choke him in his sleep.<\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0US woman among 18 NGO staff detained in Afghanistan<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

“They wanted to strangle me one night,” he said, adding that the guards intervened and transferred him to another cell.<\/p>\n

The Islamic State, a Sunni jihadist group, has for years targeted predominantly Shiite Hazaras and other religious minorities.<\/p>\n

More than six months into his ordeal a delegation of Taliban officials came to see him.<\/p>\n

Afterwards he was transferred to Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul where conditions improved. He also learnt that RSF had hired a lawyer to defend him.<\/p>\n

Last week, the journalist was finally freed after all charges against him, including espionage and illegal support for foreigners, were thrown out at a court hearing in Kabul.<\/p>\n

Taliban officials have issued directives on the protection of detainees’ rights, but a recent report by the UN mission in Afghanistan said prisoners were still subject to mistreatment and urged the authorities to put a stop to abuses.<\/p>\n

The interior ministry this week said an internal investigation had found evidence of mistreatment at its detention centers and that it was working to address the issue.<\/p>\n

Asked about his plans for the future, Behboudi said he wanted to “move on”.<\/p>\n

He admits he was fortunate and that other Afghan journalists do not have the “support of Western media and the international community”.<\/p>\n

Under the Taliban, “everything is censored these days”, Behboudi said.<\/p>\n

“If I a take photo on the street, I risk being arrested,” he said. “There is no longer freedom of expression, there is no longer freedom of the press in Afghanistan.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n