Afghanistan: Two journalists brutally beaten by the Taliban | Radical Islamists urged media not to cover protests

Two journalists from one of the main Afghan dailies reported being detained and brutally beaten by Taliban fighters while covering a demonstration in Kabul. A few hours later, the recently appointed Minister of the Interior, Sirajuddin Haqqani, published its first decree: demonstrations must be authorized in advance by the Ministry of Justice.

“I thought they killed me”

Two reporters from the daily Etilaat Roz (“Information day) were arrested and brutally attacked by the insurgents. The Taqi Daryabi photography, 22 years old, and the cameraman Nematullah NaqdI, 28, was covering a women’s protest outside a police station in the western part of the Afghan capital, when they were arrested by fighters patrolling Kabul since the capture of the capital on August 15. “They told me that it was totally forbidden to film. They arrested everyone who was recording, they took the phones.Said Nematullah, who was covering a protest in which dozens of women participated to defend their right to study and work in the Central Asian country. One of the protesters was at work, but soon after, fighters grabbed him and took him to a police station.

Once at the police station, Nematullah was taken to an empty room where the brutal beatings began. “They tied my hands behind my back, threw me to the ground and beat me with sticks, cables and pipes. With whatever they could find.“He said.” He screamed, he kept saying he was a journalist, but they didn’t care. They didn’t care. They kicked me in the head, they destroyed my back … It lasted about 10 or 15 minutes. I thought they were killing me“, remember.

The cameraman was then taken to a cell where around 15 people were also detained, including his partner Taqi, whom he found with blood on his head and in shock. “We were lying on the floor, everything hurt so much that I couldn’t move”Taqi said. Four hours later, the Taliban returned their cell phones and released them amidst insults. According to the Al Jazeera signal, two other journalists of the morning Etilaat Roz , Aber Shaygan and Luftali Sultani, and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Kadhim Karimi, they went to the police station to find out the whereabouts of their two reporters, but upon arrival they were attacked by the insurgents, who also confiscated their property, including their cell phones.

“Karimi could barely finish a sentence when one of the Taliban slapped her and told her to get lost”said Shaygan, who also said that as soon as they introduced themselves as journalists, the Taliban began to treat them with contempt. The three men were taken to cells where they heard the screams and screams of their two colleagues who had been arrested during the demonstration and that at that time they were in separate rooms, said the reporter from Etilaat Roz.

“They beat them so badly that they couldn’t walk. They hit them with guns, they kicked them, they whipped them with cables, they slapped them.”Shaygan told Al Jazeera. The journalist assured that they were not only detaining journalists, He also saw how the Taliban guards took away one of the protesters who had been heavily attacked.. “He could barely walk, another inmate had to help him up,” he added. The newspaper director Etilaat Roz, Zaki Daryabi, called on all media to come together to denounce the violence committed against media workers. “The official speech has nothing to do with the reality that we see in the streets”, he claimed.

Hours later, the journalists were released with a warning from the fighters. “What these protesters were doing is illegal and by covering up this stuff you also broke the law. This time we let them go, but next time they won’t come out so easily. “Shaygan told Qatari television. An Afghan journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity to the British newspaper The Guardian, assured that there is a big difference between the Taliban in the media and the Taliban in the streets. “The Taliban on the ground have beaten journalists in Kabul and elsewhere … I think they have ended journalism freedoms in Afghanistan,” he told the newspaper.

Prohibition to demonstrate

The Taliban government later issued a decree requiring protests to be approved by the Justice Ministry at least 24 hours before they take place. They also banned demonstrations “until further notice” and They asked the media not to cover the protests or publish anything about them.

While the director of the Committee to Protect Journalists In Asia, Steven Butler lamented that the Taliban’s promises to respect independent media were not kept. “We urge the Taliban to keep these previous promises, to stop beating and detaining journalists doing their job, because allow the media to work freely without fear of reprisalsButler asserted.