{"id":6213,"date":"2021-09-18T10:02:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-18T10:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=6213"},"modified":"2021-09-18T10:02:17","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T10:02:17","slug":"153-media-organizations-cease-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2021\/09\/153-media-organizations-cease-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"153 media organizations cease operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONITORING (SW) \u2013 At least 153 media organisations have been forced to cease operations as the Taliban\u2019s new regime solidifies in Afghanistan, with women journalists barred from working, telecommunication shutdowns and ever-increasing threats and violence towards media workers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the Taliban\u2019s mounting attacks to press freedom and is gravely concerned for the safety of journalists across Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Reports are\u00a0escalating<\/a>\u00a0of Taliban militants detaining journalists, seizing their equipment and even subjecting individuals to torture or beatings. Over 7000 media workers have been affected by the takeover, with many prevented from working, in hiding and fearful for their lives and those of their families.<\/p>\n

On September 8, the Taliban\u00a0issued an order<\/a>\u00a0prohibiting unauthorised assembly and protests. The following day they instructed telecommunications providers to cut internet and mobile service in areas of Kabul.<\/p>\n

IFJ secretary general Anthony Bellanger\u00a0believes<\/a>\u00a0the Taliban is allowing a \u2018grace period\u2019 before attacks towards Afghan and international journalists intensify.\u00a0 \u201cI believe what we will see emerge is an official media \u2013 a Taliban media \u2013 and no women. All other journalists will just disappear. It wasn\u2019t easy before \u2013 and even before the Taliban took power, journalists were killed \u2013 but it is very bleak now,\u201d\u00a0said Bellanger<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Afghan journalist Ahmad Wahid Payman, who fled to Germany after the capture of Kabul, said that female journalists are now completely barred from all media activities, with colleagues in hiding and media and entertainment programs cancelled. \u201cThe Taliban are pretending to be tolerant in order to be recognized internationally, but there are countless examples of massive attacks,” he\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Taliban\u00a0released<\/a>\u00a0approximately 1,000 serious criminals from Afghan prisons, who are now threatening reporters who covered their arrests and detention.<\/p>\n

Afghan journalists have begun to speak out against the Taliban despite enduring fear and threats of violence, with more than 150 media workers\u00a0signing<\/a>\u00a0an open letter to the United Nations calling for concrete action to save Afghanistan\u2019s journalists.<\/p>\n

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also released a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0on September 10 calling on the Taliban to immediately \u201ccease the use of force towards, and the arbitrary detention of, those exercising their right to peaceful assembly and the journalists covering the protests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IFJ is continuing its special fundraising response for Afghanistan to the\u00a0IFJ Safety Fund<\/a>, much of which has already been distributed to assist journalists on the ground. Members from IFJ affiliates the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) and Afghanistan National Journalists Union (ANJU) have been working tirelessly to provide support and guidance to media workers across the nation.<\/p>\n

The IFJ said:\u00a0\u201cThe situation in Afghanistan is growing increasingly dire for all media workers, with many journalists displaced due to the Taliban offensive, in hiding and without work. The IFJ stands in solidarity with its Afghan colleagues and calls on the Taliban to respect media freedom and the rights of journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONITORING (SW) \u2013 At least 153 media organisations have been forced to cease operations as the Taliban\u2019s new regime solidifies in Afghanistan, with women journalists barred from working, telecommunication shutdowns and ever-increasing threats and violence towards media workers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,200,5,8,4,6,7],"tags":[12,360,442],"class_list":["post-6213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security_","category-democracy-human-rights","category-politics_","category-governance","category-news_","category-afghanistan","category-headline","tag-afghanistan","tag-media","tag-taliba"],"views":626,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}