Taliban Beat & Torture Journalists And Protestors

"Taliban fighters have been accused of beating and detaining journalists for covering protests in the Afghan capital Kabul, raising questions over the group’s promises on media freedom.

Two reporters for the Etilaatroz newspaper – Taqi Daryabi and Nematullah Naqdi – were detained by the Taliban while covering a women’s protest in the west of Kabul on Wednesday morning.

Two other journalists from the newspaper – Aber Shaygan and Lutfali Sultani – rushed to the police station along with the newspaper editor, Kadhim Karimi, to inquire about the whereabouts of their colleagues.

But the moment they reached the police station, they say, Taliban fighters pushed and slapped them and confiscated all their belongings, including mobile phones.

The three men were taken into a small holding cell with 15 people in it, two of whom were reporters with Reuters and Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, Shaygan said.

It was while they were in holding that the three heard reports of the disturbing abuse suffered by Daryabi, 22, and Naqdi, 28, who were being held in separate rooms.

“We could hear their screams and cries through the walls,” the cellmates said of the piercing cries. “The cellmates had even heard the sounds of women crying from pain.”

Pictures posted by the newspaper online filled in the rest of the story. They showed clear physical evidence of the floggings and beatings with cables both men were subject to. Daryabi’s lower back, upper legs, and face were covered with deep red lesions. Naqdi’s left arm, upper back, upper legs, and face were also covered in red welts.

“They were beaten so bad, they couldn’t walk. They were hit with guns, they were kicked, they were whipped with cables, they were slapped,” Shaygan said.

He said the violence was so brutal that Naqdi and Daryabi had lost consciousness from the pain.

But it was not just journalists who seemed to meet this fate. Shaygan said a male protester was escorted into their cell by Taliban guards, clearly looking as if he too had been abused.

“He could barely walk, one of the other cellmates had to get up and help him in,” said Shaygan.

Though all five men were released after several hours in detention, Shaygan said they were issued a stern warning from a Taliban official before leaving: “What these protesters were doing is illegal and by covering such things, you all broke the law. We will let you go this time, but next time you won’t be let out so easily.”

At the time, protests were not outlawed but, within hours, the Taliban issued a decree saying any protests, along with their slogans, must be approved 24 hours prior by the Ministry of Justice.

Those claims of illegality by the official struck Shaygan and his colleagues as going directly against statements the Taliban have made about freedom of the press in their “Islamic Emirate”.

Amnesty International has decried the reports of violence and intimidation against the press.

Shaygan has been working with Etilaatroz, which is renowned for its investigative reporting, for four years. He says recent weeks have shown that the Taliban have “two faces,” one the leadership projects to the outside world and the one the Afghan people face on a daily basis on the streets."
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/9/talibans-violence-against-women-reporters-intensifies