Media: Taliban detained journalists over 250 times in Afghanistan since 2021, says the UN
New Delhi: The United Nations mission to Afghanistan said on Tuesday the ruling Taliban had arbitrarily detained journalists 256 Times since their takeover three years ago and urged authorities there to protect the media.
In a reply, accompanying the report, the Taliban-led Foreign Ministry, however, denied having arrested that number of journalists and added that those arrested had committed a crime, according to the media reports.
Journalists in Afghanistan functioned under very challenging conditions, the UN Human Rights Office said in a statement.
The Foreign Ministry said the arrest figure was “exaggerated” and that “detentions took place subject to the law. No one is arrested arbitrarily,” it said, listing the infringements of those detained.
These ranged from provoking the people to act against the system, defaming the government, and providing false and baseless reports with cooperation from the system’s enemies in the media, it added.
The Taliban returned to power in 2021 after the US-led allied forces withdrew, vowing to restore security and impose the strict interpretation of Islamic Law.
The ultra-Islamist administration has not been officially recognized by any foreign government and Western diplomats have said that recognition is being stalled by the Taliban’s curbs on women.
