Global, Afghan groups want Ariana reporters freed

KABUL (Pajhwok): Three major organisations on Tuesday denounced the arrest of two Afghan journalists and called for their immediate release.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) asked the Islamic Emirate to explain why the Ariana News reporters had been detained.

“Mounting concerns about restrictions on media and free expression. UN urges Taliban to make public why they detained these Ariana News reporters.”

Also on Tuesday, Amnesty International (AI) slammed the arrest of the journalists as “unjustifiable” and urged the Taliban administration to free them.

In a tweet, the London-based organisation said: “Such escalating attacks on media freedom are a grave threat to the right to freedom of expression. The Taliban must unconditionally and immediately release them.”

EU Ambassador Andreas von Brandt tweeted: “Still hard to grasp why those you claim to work for justice and better governance don’t respect journalists working to improve transparency, governance and justice in Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, the Free Speech Hub said the reporters — Aslam Hejab and Waris Hasrat — were arrested by Islamic Emirate forces on Monday.

In a statement, the media support organisation said whereabouts of the reporters and reason for their detention were yet to be known.

“The Free Speech Hub wants the Taliban to immediately release these two reporters and stop cracking down on freedom of expression.”

The Afghan Media Association claimed the Ariana reporters were picked up by the Taliban on Monday and taken to an unknown location.

Separately, an official at Ariana told AFP the journalists were seized by masked gunmen in front of the channel’s office.

The Paris-based news agency quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying that he had no information about the missing reporters.

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