KABUL (SW) – Forces of the Islamic Emirate’s Intelligence Directorate have held a Salam Watandar reporter captive in Kabul for hours on Saturday while he was performing his duty.
Sarwar Hashemi, a Salam Watandar journalist who went to the Ministry of Education today to cover a protest demonstration by a group of women, was arrested by the Islamic Emirate’s intelligence forces.
Hashemi said he was interrogated for more than six hours at the Ministry of Education and, in addition, was held in a room at the ministry for about an hour.
The Salam Watandar reporter added that his explanations about the reason for his visit to the protest site and showing his media equipment to prove his statements were ignored and he was not allowed to share the matter with the Salam Watandar officials. Hashemi stated that he was released after about six hours of interrogation and contact between the intelligence officials of the Islamic Emirate and the forces on the ground.
Gul Mohammad Graan, the editor-in-chief of Salam Watandar, expressed concern about this move by the Islamic Emirate’s intelligence forces, saying it would have a negative impact on the media and journalists. He called on the Islamic Emirate to work with the media instead of blocking the media in order to promote freedom of expression and the media in the country.
Meanwhile, Masroor Lotfi, a member of the Federation of Journalists, said that access to information was the right of every journalist, and that preventing anyone from accessing it was a clear violation of the Access to Information Act.
He added that the continued detention and imprisonment of journalists and the lack of action to end the situation would discourage journalists and would not have a good effect on the media. The member of the federation of journalists called on the Islamic Emirate to facilitate and work with journalists to facilitate access to information for journalists.
We wanted to have the views of the officials of the Islamic Emirate in this regard but to no avail.
ENDs
