Taliban detains three journalists in Afghanistan, UN says

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative file photo — Taliban members are seen in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2, 2021. (REUTERS/Stringer)

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar (Reuters)

KABUL  -  Afghanistan's Taliban government has detained at least three journalists on unspecified charges, the United Nations mission there said on Thursday in a statement that called for the  protection of reporters.

The three were the head of the Kabul-based Paigard News Agency, and two staff from Afghanistan's first 24-hour news channel, TOLOnews, media and rights groups said.

The UN mission UNAMA said it urged "the de facto authorities to uphold their obligations under international human rights law and ensure that journalists can do their work without fear of intimidation, harassment, or reprisal".

More than 40% of Afghanistan's media outlets closed within three months of the Taliban returning to power in August 2021, according to Reporters Without Borders, and women have been barred from most journalism roles. 

Afghanistan ranks among the world's most dangerous countries for journalists, the campaign group says.

The Taliban's Ministry of Information and Culture confirmed the detention of the two TOLOnews journalists, saying their cases were under investigation, without specifying charges. 

TOLOnews named them as Imran Danish and Mansoor Niazi and said security officials had said there would be more information on the cases against them when legal procedures had been completed.

Paigard News Agency's Ahmad Jawed Niazi was arrested late on Thursday last week at his office in Kabul by Taliban intelligence forces, the Afghanistan Media Support Organization said in a statement issued on the agency's behalf.

 (Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul; Editing by Ariba Shahid and Andrew Heavens // REUTERS)