Afghanistan - Anchor of TOLOnews Released After Hours in Custody

AT News

KABUL: Bahram Aman, an anchor of TOLOnews was released on Friday late afternoon after spending one night in detention of the Islamic Emirate.

On Thursday, the Islamic Emirate detained Khpulwak Sapai, director of TOLOnews, and Nafi Khaleeq, legal manager of Moby Group, alongside Aman after TOLOnews broadcasted news regarding the prohibition of airing foreign drama series.

The order prohibiting the broadcast of foreign drama series was made by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue.

Sapai and Khaleeq were released on Thursday night after, but Aman remained in custody until Friday evening.

TOLOnews director Sapai said that as a media outlet TOLOnews does not want to disobey the government, but wants to spread news to the people. 

“As a media outlet, our activities never have disobeyed the government, but have acted as a bridge between the government and the people. Our job is to communicate the information to the people. As such, our suggestion has always been that any issue related to media or TOLOnews should be shared with us via the Ministry of Information and Culture,” he said. 

The arrest of the employees of TOLOnews sparked reactions inside and outside the country.

 The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association, Afghanistan Journalists' Center, Afghan Journalists' Safety Committee and NAI, an organization supporting media in Afghanistan, said the arrest was in violation of freedom of speech principles and laws. These organizations urged the Islamic Emirate to put an end to such arbitrary arrests.

“UNAMA expresses its deep concern about the detentions of journalists and the ever-increasing restrictions being placed on media in Afghanistan. Time for the Taliban to stop gagging and banning. Time for a constructive dialogue with the Afghan media community,” UNAMA said on Twitter.

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