Taliban search the houses of 4 journalists, denounces Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced this Wednesday that the taliban They have searched the homes of four journalists and are investigating whether two other reporters were attacked while covering a protest in the city afghan de Jalalabad.

In a statement, CPJ expressed concern about press freedom in Afghanistan after the coming to power of the Taliban and urged the insurgent group to cease its attacks “immediately”.

“The Taliban must stop searching journalists’ homes, must commit to ending the use of violence against them, and must allow them to operate freely and without interference,” affirmed the coordinator for Asia of CPJ, Steven Butler, picks up the statement.

According to CPJ, the Taliban searched the homes of three Afghan employees of German television “Deutsche Welle” and of a journalist and interpreter who worked for American Wesley Morgan, who since 2007 has been reporting on the conflict in Afghanistan for various outlets, including The Washington Post.

The four journalists have gone into hiding for fear of reprisals from the taliban. In the case of the “Deutsche Welle” employees, the German Foreign Office is working to get them out of the country along with their families.

Likewise, the journalistic organization is investigating information that indicates that two reporters were attacked while covering a protest in Jalalabad, capital of the eastern province of Nangarhar.

During the protest, the Taliban faced hundreds of people who asked to keep the national flag and not replace it with the insurgent one.

On Tuesday, at his first press conference since taking control of Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman Zabihulla Mujahid promised that the media will be able to continue to operate “freely and independently”, although he said journalists should take into account the “Islamic values” in their coverage.

When the Taliban regime ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, it restricted freedom of the press and banned all media from operating with the exception of Radio Sharia, which only broadcast propaganda and religious broadcasts.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has been very skeptical about the guarantees of the Taliban and has asked the UN Security Council for an emergency meeting to protect journalists and journalism in the Asian country.

Currently, in Afghanistan there are registered eight press agencies, 52 television channels, 165 radio stations and 190 publications (such as newspapers, weeklies or monthly) with 12,000 journalists. In these media there are 1,741 women, of which 764 are professional journalists.