Afghanistan
Taliban thrash TOLO News scribe in Kabul, seize camera, phone and cash
New Delhi: According a report in Arab News, Taliban fighters in Kabul assaulted a reporter with TOLO News, Ziar Khan Yaad, on Thursday while he was interviewing day laborers in the Shahr-e-Naw neighborhood.
Reports indicated that when Yaad identified himself as a journalist, the Taliban continued to beat and thrash him with their rifles butts and abuse and insult him.
Phones, camera, microphones, and personal belongings including cash, of Yaad and his camera operator, Baes Maji were confiscated by the Taliban and have yet to be returned, Arab News said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the Taliban using violence against journalists in Afghanistan, and urged them to allow the media to cover critical news from the country freely and safely.
“The Taliban’s credibility is on the line as its fighters attacked TOLO News reporter Zian Khan Yaad and other journalists in flagrant violation of earlier public commitments to allow Afghanistan’s independent media to continue to operate freely,” said Steven Butler, coordinator of the CPJ’s Asia Program, quoted by Arab News.
“Now, as ever, the people of Afghanistan need access to news and the Taliban must learn to respect the basic rights of journalists to freely report it,” he added.
TOLO News, an independent Kabul-based news agency, announced last week that it will “remain committed to its journalism” despite the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. It’s journalists are at the forefront of reporting during the last 10 days.
The news agency, however, is yet to comment on the assault against Yaad at the time of publishing this report.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of the country, many journalists and reporters have gone into hiding while others fear for their future.
Last week, Taliban fighters raided the homes of two journalists and seized cars, desktop computers and a licensed weapon from one of the houses.
Similarly, according to Deutsche Welle, the Taliban raided the homes of three of its journalists in Afghanistan last week and shot dead a relative of a DW reporter and severely injured another while attempting to track him down.