Afghanistan: journalist Mahdi Ansary, imprisoned by the Taliban’s General Intelligence Directorate, must be released immediately

According to RSF's information, Mahdi Ansaryhas been in the hands of the General Intelligence Directorate (GDI) for over two weeks: the 27-year-old journalist was last seen leaving the Kabul office of the Afghan News Agency(AFKA) on the evening of 5 October. Mahdi Ansary's family then scoured the police stations of the Afghan capital until a police officer informed them, in confidence, that Mahdi Ansary had been arrested by the GDI. The GDI has refused to officially acknowledge that it is holding Mahdi Ansary, however, one of RSF's sources, who wishes to remain anonymous, confirmed that he is being held in a GDI detention centre in Kabul. According to our information, he was arrested due to content he published on social media.

Mahdi Ansary had already been arrested by the police in October 2023for a reportpublished by AFKAon the first anniversary of a deadly suicide attack on Kabul's Shia minority. A few days before his disappearance, the journalist shared a post on his Facebook pagecommemorating the second anniversary of this attack.

The GDI's persecution of journalists

The GDI has been at the heart of a campaign to intimidate media professionals since the Taliban regained power in August 2021. In January 2024, the GDI detained three Afghan journalistsfor several days, an incident that aligns with the country's growing censorship.

TV channels censored and suspended

In mid-October, the Taliban authorities announced their intention to implement the new Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of ViceLaw, signed on 31 July by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. Under Article 17 of this law, the morality police must enforce a ban on publishing or broadcasting content deemed contrary to Islamic law as well as any images depicting living beings.

At the time of this writing, Taliban authorities in three provinces had asked local media to apply the ban on images of living beings.

In Kandahar province, a Taliban stronghold in the south of the country, the broadcasts ofKandahar TV,the local branch of the national broadcaster RTA, which used to broadcast three hours of local programs a day, were suspended on 14 August due to the ban.

In the northeastern province of Takhar, the provincial branch of RTAhas suspended broadcasts since 13 October, as have the private channels Mah-e-Nawand Reyhan. The ban has also affected the local branch of the state-owned Bakhtar News Agency,as well as several private radio stations operating online.

In the north-western province of Badghis, the governor ordered a ban on 22 October on photography and video interviews with local officials in addition to prohibiting the publication of images of living creatures. The directive was officially communicated to the media via a WhatsApp message from the provincial Department of Information and Culture. The two local TV channels, the privately-owned Oboor TVand the provincial branch of RTA,halted their broadcasting.

Taliban-approved guests

On 21, September the Taliban launched a separate attack on broadcast media in an attempt to control the content of political talk shows. Newinstructions were verbally announced during a meeting with leading media executives at the Ministry of Information and Culture in Kabul. They included bans on live broadcasts, criticism of the regime and the free choice of guests. The media were given a list of some sixty personalities approved by the Taliban authorities.

Afghanistan ranks 178th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index, down 56 places from 2021.