Amnesty International says that the Taliban have turned Afghanistan into one of the worst countries for freedom of expression.
In a statement issued on Saturday, May 4, marking World Press Freedom Day, Amnesty International stated that the Taliban continue their relentless suppression of free speech and the media by arresting and torturing journalists and imposing severe restrictions on media outlets.
The organization added that since their return to power, the Taliban have suspended many media operations due to their criticism of Taliban policies.
Amnesty further highlighted several measures that have led to Afghanistan’s dramatic decline in press freedom rankings:
Banning political TV programs
Restricting analysts and journalists associated with exiled media outlets
Arbitrary detention of reporters
Preventing independent analysts from appearing on domestic media
These actions, the organization says, have pushed Afghanistan to the bottom of global press freedom indexes.
Amnesty also noted that the ban on broadcasting images of living beings (humans and animals) under the Taliban’s “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law has further damaged press freedom in the country.
Meanwhile, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, has called on the Taliban to immediately release all detained journalists on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day.
