The gradual deterioration of freedom of expression under the rule of the Taliban group

More than two years have passed since the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the conditions of the media are still getting tougher. The Taliban consider the media and journalists as their unarmed enemies and therefore treat media workers as their opponents.

Violence, threats, arbitrary arrests, beatings and severe censorship against the media have worried a number of media support organizations. With announcements, they have strongly expressed their concern about the continuation of arrests and the imposition of serious restrictions on the media and journalists.

Organizations that support the media in Afghanistan say that journalists and editors of media under the rule of the Taliban have to follow the orders of this group in order to survive. They still have to self-censor.

A significant number of journalists have left Afghanistan in the last two years due to the narrowness of the journalistic work space, fear of torture and arrest. Moazullah Sultanoglu is one of the journalists who was forced to leave the country. Having faced many problems and crossing illegal and deadly roads, he smuggled himself to Turkey.

But he does not have a happy and comfortable life here either. He says that he spends every day in fear of being arrested by the Turkish police and is worried that he will be sent back to the country. He himself describes his situation as pathetic.

International institutions, including the United Nations, have expressed concern about the future of the media in Afghanistan by publishing a statement. Many Afghan journalists have been forced to leave their jobs due to the closure of the media and lack of funds or due to the conditions imposed by the ruling regime.

Especially these conditions have been described as very terrible for female journalists. Women journalists could not continue their work as journalists due to more work restrictions, including news coverage, not running programs with men, not participating in entertainment programs, and direct threats from this group. Now the media in most cities have no female reporters.

Shabnam Rasouli is one of the journalists who is now sitting at home with the arrival of the Taliban regime and suffering from her uncertain future. He says that even though he supported his family in the past and had many dreams, now he has to sit at home with fear and despair. Shabnam expects media monitoring institutions and journalist support institutions to reach their status.

Women reporters, presenters and even their guests cannot appear on TV without hijab and full covering. However, men and women cannot run programs at the same time. Many Taliban officials do not interview women.

Women journalists are not allowed to enter and attend most government institutions and circles. Therefore, most female journalists have left their jobs and even had to leave the country. Samia Valizadeh is one of the journalists who was forced to leave the country.

Omi says arbitrary arrests and the Taliban's lack of accountability have clouded the future of the Afghan press, forcing him to emigrate.

Hojatullah Mujadadi, the head of the Free Journalists Union of Afghanistan, also says that the conditions imposed by the current rulers have limited the work of female journalists to such an extent that they only work in a few big cities and in limited media, and that's it.

Also, Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General's special representative for Afghanistan affairs, called the attack on journalists unacceptable and said that journalists are forced to make decisions based on fear and not on public interest to publish their news.

UNESCO, which monitors the state of the press and freedom of expression in the country, is concerned about the effectiveness and quality of media work, the lack of training of professional staff and new media managers.

This institution believes that improving the skills of journalists is necessary to promote a media environment that leads to the values ​​of human rights and sustainable development. In the current situation, there is no suitable platform for improving the capacity of journalists.

On the other hand, the closed space for media work, the lack of access to information, which is considered one of the main elements of a free society, is considered a clear violation of human rights.

Shahrazad Akbar, the head of the Independent Human Rights Commission during the Republic, believes that it is very difficult to observe human rights in a closed society, he says.” In Afghanistan, we are witnessing increasing pressures on the press and information, which makes it impossible to provide citizens' rights under such conditions”.

After the complete occupation of Afghanistan, the Taliban published the 11-article law in their first action, which, according to some experts, put an end to the free activity of information in Afghanistan. In the aforementioned law, it is stated that the media do not have the right to publish non-Islamic content, anti-national and insulting content, and issues that are against the ruling system.

Press affairs experts say that with the current Taliban regime in Afghanistan, all the activities of international institutions and people to strengthen and support freedom of expression are not working. They believe that the activity of the media in this way has somehow become a loudspeaker and a source of propaganda for the ruling regime.

Mohammad Daoud Naji, a journalist and expert, says that the Taliban have no belief in the freedom of the press and media, and any effort to reform the mentality of this group will not be beneficial.

Although pressures on the press, violations of the press law, freedom of speech are openly carried out by the Taliban government. But this group denies the existence of any threats and censorship from its side.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman and one of the senior officials of the Taliban group, says that journalists can continue their work freely by observing the principles and rules of the Taliban government. He says that the Taliban supports the domestic media of Afghanistan and every journalist can continue their activities by observing the principles defined (by the Taliban government).

The Taliban, who enjoyed the freedom of speech and the presence of the media in the twenty years of the republic, and the media had continuously published their voices to balance their news, after the victory, they went to the same media and arrested a large number of journalists, threatened and harassed them. they beat According to Reporters Without Borders, after the rule of this group in Afghanistan, more than 213 journalists have been arrested.

The Afghanistan Free Media Support Organization (NAI) describes this situation as extremely dangerous and says that they are witnessing the gradual destruction of freedom of expression and the nascent press in the country by arbitrary and unprofessional dealings with the media.

Mohammad Zarif Karimi, the head of this institution in Afghanistan, says that during the last two years, about 50% of the media outlets in the country have been closed. He says that out of more than five hundred media outlets in Afghanistan, half of them stopped their activities due to the established conditions. Mr. Karimi warns that if the increasing restrictions continue, the work of the media and the freedom of the press will be destroyed..

In its annual report, RSF or Reporters Without Borders announced the number of journalists who were killed in Afghanistan in the past year as three.

Reporters Without Borders has also said that restrictions, arbitrary arrests, threats and beatings for no reason have caused about two out of three media workers in Afghanistan to leave their jobs.

Freedom of speech, which was considered one of the most important achievements of Afghanistan in the last two decades, now, after two years, the name of this country has been removed from almost all important global platforms.

During the last year, the name of Afghanistan was removed from the World Coalition for Freedom of Expression and the country's membership in this body was cancelled. Also, Afghanistan ranked 156th among 180 countries from 122nd.

According to official statistics, Afghanistan had nearly 550 active media outlets before the Taliban took over the country. More than 400 TV and radio stations and dozens of print and online media were operating in this country.

These statistics show that 11,858 journalists and media workers were busy working in these media. Among them, 7,756 were journalists and more than 2,000 were female journalists.

But with the re-emergence of the Taliban on Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the media in Afghanistan again entered a dark atmosphere, an atmosphere full of fear, violence, repression and censorship.

According to the statistics of Reporters Without Borders and other media support organizations, more than 50% of all media outlets in Afghanistan have been closed and more than 8,000 Afghan journalists and media workers have lost their jobs.

These statistics show that after the Taliban came back to power in Afghanistan, 318 media outlets have stopped operating and according to media support institutions, more than 20% are on the verge of being closed.

85% of female journalists in Afghanistan have lost their jobs.

In addition to arresting, threatening and beating journalists, the most important restrictions that the Taliban have imposed on the media so far are banning the broadcast of foreign series, even with Islamic content, and the broadcasting of music on televisions and radios.

Also, the Taliban group banned the rebroadcasting of foreign media programs in Afghan media. Women are prohibited from participating in entertainment and allegorical programs. The place of work and commuting of male and female reporters has been made separate and in case of running the program, women's faces must be completely covered and they must wear masks.

International organizations and supporting media expressed their concern about the situation of media in Afghanistan by presenting gross statistics of violence against journalists and publishing press releases.

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, the United Nations and Amnesty International have expressed their concern about the unfortunate situation of media and journalists in Afghanistan and have asked the Taliban to respect freedom of expression. But so far, all the efforts of the institutions have not worked.