A local journalist, Reza Shahir, says that the Taliban did not allow him to cover the incidents in Dasht-e-Barchi. Reza Shahir is a reporter of Rah-e-Farda TV who went to Dasht-e-Barchi to cover the incident on Tuesday, but the Taliban did not permit him to do so. He says that the Taliban took his camera with all photos in it. While he tried to have photos and interviews using his phone, the Taliban fighters beat him and arrested him for several hours.
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“While they took my footage, they hit me with guns on both my legs. Then slapped me across my face, and kicked me in the back and I fell on the ground. They accused me of working with the ones who carried out the attacks, otherwise how did I know and reach there soon?,” Reza said. “The Taliban must cease its routine arbitrary detention, abuse, and harassment of Afghan journalists,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. Three explosions took place in west of Kabul, and the journalists were not allowed to cover the attacks.
Mohammad Islam Behnoosh is one of the journalists who went to the scene to cover the attacks, but tweeted that the Taliban did not allow him to do so. “Today, I saw the death of media and journalism closely,” he said.After Taliban’s takeover, it is not the first time that journalists are not permitted to cover such incidents and protests. One of the journalists, on the condition of anonymity, told Radio Azadi that in many cases the journalists are not allowed to cover protests or other incidents related to security, and that this has become a reason of concern for journalists.
“I hope the Taliban government end thias concern, and consider the law on access to information,” he said. Meanwhile, Free Speech Hub, in a statement, requested the Taliban to act according to the law on access to information, mass media and international covenants and avoid violation of Afghan people’s freedom of speech. The Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that when the situation will be back to normal, the journalists will be allowed to go there to cover the incident, because when an explosion takes place, there is the possibility of a second one when the journalists go there and people gather. That is why the media must be cautious and avoid gathering in a place, affecting the attitude of people.
After Taliban’s takeover, many cases have been documented of their bad behavior towards journalists: they beat them, they arrest them and they prevent them to cover the incidents. Few days ago, Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA), marking journalists’ national day said that in the first seven months of Taliban rule, 82 cases of violence have been reported and that a lot of them relate to Taliban.