World News | Human Rights Watch Raises Concern over Taliban Crackdown on Afghan Media

new York [US]Nov 23 (ANI): Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday (local time) expressed concerns about the Taliban’s introduction of strict new media guidelines in Afghanistan, which are particularly harmful to women.

The HRW said in a statement that Taliban intelligence services have issued death threats against journalists who criticized Taliban officials and have asked journalists to submit all reports for approval prior to publication.

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New guidelines from the Vice and Virtue Ministry dictate the clothing of women journalists on television and ban soap operas and entertainment programs with female actors, the rights group said.

“The new media regulations and threats by the Taliban against journalists reflect broader efforts to silence any criticism of Taliban rule,” said Patricia Gossman, deputy Asia director at HRW. “The disappearance of any space for dissent and the worsening restrictions on women in the media and the arts are devastating.”

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Several journalists said they were summoned by local officials immediately after reports of the Taliban abuses were published. A journalist who reported complaints about Taliban searches and brawls said the deputy governor called him into his office and told him that if he sent out something like that again, “he would hang me in the marketplace.”

Other media workers reported that heavily armed Taliban intelligence agencies visited their offices and warned journalists not to use the word “Taliban” in their reporting but to refer to “Islamic Emirate” in all publications.

Last week the Taliban Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice banned the showing of films deemed “contrary to Islamic or Afghan values,” as well as soap operas and dramas with female actors, and made the hijab – a headgear that the face – a must for female television journalists.

The Taliban had also urged the media, particularly in the provinces, to publish the reports they wanted and, in some cases, instructed journalists to interview them, the rights group said. One journalist said: “After they threatened us with death, we published what they said. Now we are sending Quranic verses at the beginning of the broadcasts and naat [Islamic songs] because we fear for our safety. “

Many media out of fear have closed their offices and only publish online. “Despite the Taliban’s promises to allow media that respect ‘Islamic values’, journalists in Afghanistan live in fear of knocking on the door or a summons from the authorities,” said Gossman. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News Feed. LatestLY Staff may not have changed or edited the content.)

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