{"id":366,"date":"2021-05-28T19:25:24","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T19:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/?p=366"},"modified":"2021-05-28T19:26:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T19:26:48","slug":"attacks-on-media-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/2021\/05\/28\/attacks-on-media-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"HRW: “Killing You is a Very Easy Thing For Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source: Human Rights Watch<\/p>\n\n\n\n



Security forces in many provinces in Afghanistan, including Kabul, continue to harass, threaten, arrest, and beat up local journalists and editors in Afghanistan to punish them for what they have published or broadcast, or to intimidate them not to publish in the future.240<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0This section highlights press attacks documented by Human Rights Watch during the first half of 2003, and shows how these attacks have led to self-censorship as many journalists have decided not to publish critical or objective articles. Press and Media Activity in Afghanistan<\/strong> Press and media in Afghanistan enjoyed a rebirth after the fall of the Taliban, but still have struggled greatly. Scores of newspapers opened in Kabul city in 2002 and early 2003, but other cities have far fewer new publications. There are several independent newspapers in the country, but many publications, both within and outside of Kabul, are run by political parties and do not contain objective news articles, only editorials and opinion pieces. Some newspapers are government-owned: the Ministry of Information and Culture runs a newspaper in Kabul, and local governors own their own papers\u2014for instance, Kandahar\u2019s Gul Agha Sherzai and Herat\u2019s Ismail Khan, who control\u00a0Tolu-e Afghan<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cAfghan Dawn\u201d) and\u00a0Ittifaq-e Islam<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cIslamic Union\u201d), respectively. There are few genuinely independent newspapers in Afghanistan, and most editors of these are under severe pressure. The majority of the Afghan population cannot read, which makes radio an extremely important medium for news. (Few people can afford televisions, and most lack the electricity to power them.) Local radio stations broadcast in many cities, including Kabul, Jalalabad, Gardez, Mazar, Herat, and Kandahar, but they are almost all under the control of the central or local governments. Two exceptions are the privately-operated Radio Shohl, a radio station in the Shomali Plain north of Kabul, and Radio Germany, a station supported by Germany, started in Kabul in May 2003. Radio Germany mostly plays international news. International radio services also broadcast in Afghanistan in Dari or Pashto, with Afghan correspondents (\u201cstringers\u201d). These include the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Voice of America, Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, and Deutsche Welle. Iranian radio can also be heard in central and western portions of the country. The U.S. military broadcasts in Kandahar and Kabul\u2014mostly Afghan music and coalition announcements. Local Afghan television stations, where they do exist, are almost entirely in the control of local political groups. For example, Governor Ismail Khan firmly controls Herat\u2019s television station. In Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Mazar-e Sharif, local military leaders have either pressured or entirely co-opted local television operators. Shura-e Nazar firmly controls Kabul television: on most nights, programming consists of lengthy pieces about Defense Minister Fahim\u2019s activities and travels. Problems with media \u201cpoliticization\u201d extend into organized media groups as well. In the first half of 2003, journalists and international organizations attempted to organize a Journalist\u2019s Union for Afghanistan to serve as a forum for discussing media issues and presenting positions and opinions on those issues to the government. Most of these efforts have failed because of recriminations between journalists about their political leaningsor affiliations. In early May 2003, a meeting to convene a Journalist\u2019s Union fell apart after Pashtun and Hazara journalists walked out, complaining that Shura-e Nazar members were dominating the meeting.241<\/sup><\/a> Threats, Arrests, and Harassment<\/strong> Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of attacks on media freedom in late 2002 and the first half of 2003, occurring both within and outside of Kabul. These include threats, arrests, and general harassment that have made it difficult or impossible for journalists to criticize certain leaders in the central government or local commanders. Army, police, or intelligence forces usually delivered the most common form of harassment\u2014death threats\u2014either in person or on the telephone, after journalists criticized military or political leaders. Generally, the most common recipients of threats and harassment are newspapers which criticize dominant military leaders or fundamentalist groups. The Case of Aftab Newspaper<\/strong><\/a> The newspaper\u00a0Aftab\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cthe Sun\u201d) is an independent Kabul paper. In March 2003,\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0began publishing editorials and opinion pieces increasingly critical of former mujahidin commanders and religious leaders in Kabul, especially those involved in fighting in Kabul in the early 1990s. The articles criticized a range of people, including the Minister of Defense Mohammad Qasim Fahim, Minister of Education Younis Qanooni, Minister of Planning Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, Vice-President Mohammad Karim Khalili, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, and Abdul Rabb al-Rasul Sayyaf. For example, in its March 18, 2003 issue,\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0published an article about connections between religion and military power in Afghanistan, claiming that religious leaders \u201clegitimized warlordism.\u201d242<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0In its March 27 issue,\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0published an article strongly critical of former president Rabbani, with a pencil drawing of Rabbani destroying houses in Kabul in the early 1990s, and an article critical of Sheikh Mohammad Asef Mohseni, a Shi\u2019a mujahidin leader and original head of the political organization Harakat-e Islami.[243]<\/a>\u00a0In the first week of April,\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0published an article entitled \u201cSecularism as a third approach,\u201d and in the next issue, on April 12, an article critical of the conservatism and past military activities of Sayyaf and his party, Ittihad-e Islami.244<\/sup><\/a> During this time,\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u2019s editor, Sayeed Mir Hussein Mahdavi, began to receive anonymous death threats over his mobile telephone.245<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0According to Mahdavi, another journalist told him that Education Minister Qanooni had complained about\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0during a public meeting of the Shura-e Nazar (a political subgroup of the Jamiat-e Islami) and that the Agricultural Minister Sayeed Hossein Anwari was furious with him.246<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0At the end of March, the electricity to\u00a0Aftab\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0office was cut, he told us. When Mahdavi asked utility personnel in Kabul for an explanation, he said, they told him that Anwari ordered them to cut off\u00a0Aftab\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0electricity. Mahdavi then visited Anwari, who, he said, angrily told him that he \u201ccould no longer tolerate seeing someone from the commonwealth of Muslim people talk against Islam.\u201d Mahdavi told us that he received threatening calls on April 9 about the article\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0had published about Sayyaf: The first call was from a man who told me: \u201cYou have made a cartoon about the respected Ustad Sayyaf and you have insulted him. You have got to pay for this act. We will see you in Paghman. [Paghman, near Kabul, is where Sayyaf lives.] It is easy for us to kidnap you.\u201d Another call the same day focused on Mahdavi\u2019s ethnicity, he told us: \u201cBe afraid of the day when once again the fight will erupt. Observe then how we will massacre you Hazara people this time, that you will never dare to raise your voice against the respected Sayyaf.\u201d A few days later,a Shura-e Nazar official visited Mahdavi, he said: I came to the office and saw that a man was waiting for me. He introduced himself as Fahim [no relation to the defense minister], and he was the nephew of Kabul city\u2019s governor. The Kabul governor is Sayyaf\u2019s man, and he was appointed based on Sayyaf\u2019s recommendation. This man Fahim told me that he had come from the governor\u2019s office, and that the governor was angry, and that he was pacing to and fro in his office holding the paper in his hand. He did not have any message from the governor, but he asked me, \u201cAren\u2019t you afraid of going to Paghman after printing this kind of article and running this kind of paper?\u201d But worse than this were his other words, when he added that: \u201cAren\u2019t you afraid of being killed when you go out of your office and walk around in this part of the city?\u201d And then he advised me not to continue activities like printing Ustad Sayyaf\u2019s cartoon. He said it was a dangerous game and I would pay a huge price. In the end, he said, \u201cYou should be afraid: you might be taken to Paghman!\u201d On the morning of April 9, 2003, Mahdavi said, he received a call from a commander in the Amniat-e Melli office for District Three of Kabul City, who told him to wait at the\u00a0Aftab\u00a0<\/em>office for him. He showed up very soon, and when we sat down he said, \u201cWhat is the good of writing this kind of article and drawing cartoons! You have doubled my problems. I have repeatedly received calls from my authorities and other senior authorities who mention to me that there is a person living under my authority with this kind of characteristic, but I do not listen to them. And now I cannot help you any more, in spite of the fact that I feel a heavy responsibility of keeping your security. And I am to take care of you.\u201d Then he started advising me and asked me to leave the work I had been following. In his point of view, he said, I should give up, \u201cbecause all the leaders are your enemy.\u201d And he referred to the part of one of my articles in which I wrote: \u201cWho dares to ask Ustad Sayyaf, Ustad Rabbani, Ustad Khalili, and all the other thousands of Ustads [Ustad means \u201clearned man\u201d or \u201cteacher\u201d], how they can afford to pay the expenses of their parties and who pays for their parties\u2019 budgets!\u201d He said that there was no one to protect me among the leaders because all of the parties\u2019 leaders were hostile to me. Later that day, an official from the Ahmad Shah Massoud Foundation\u2014a organization started by former Jamiat-e Islami organizers\u2014came to the\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0office and threatened Mahdavi again with a confusing allegation, he told us: [The man from the foundation] said, \u201cYou have drawn a cartoon, and the body represents [Defense Minister] Fahim, the clothes represent Osman, the third Caliph of Islam, and the head represents Ahmad Shah Massoud.\u201d I was astonished. [I didn\u2019t understand.] He concluded that we had insulted Shura-e Nazar and the Tajik people, ethnically, religiously, and politically. I started explaining that the cartoon was a picture based on Cubism, and it was none of the things he had mentioned. But he became very frustrated and aggressive, and he did not let me go on; during the whole time, which I think was forty to forty-five minutes, he said many things full of threatening expressions\u2014that they \u201ccould do whatever they wanted,\u201d that they \u201ccould silence me by any means and get rid of me,\u201d and that this was very easy for them. He was a fat and clumsy man with long beard and a Pakool on his head [a traditional hat often worn by Tajik fighters in the Northern Alliance]. Well, I believe it. I believe they can do whatever they want because they have the power: they are the police, they are the Afghan Army, and they are Amniat. On April 14, there were more warnings, he said. After a meeting of journalists, writers, and poets, an editor of\u00a0Piyam Mujahid<\/em>, a political publication co-owned by Rabbani and director of the Cultural Department of Shura-e Nazar, stopped Mahdavi outside the meeting: He opened the door of [his] car . . . and told me to come in. When I got into the car, he said . . . \u201cYou have not lived here, and you do not know how dangerous it is for you. People have guns in their hands. You should understand this reality.\u201d And then he continued: \u201cIt was me who controlled them and told them not to harm you, but now it is beyond my ability . . . . I warn you: watch your behavior so that you do not regret it.\u201d The threats on the telephone became more explicit on April 16th<\/sup>, and, Mahdavi said, he went to the Ministry of Information and Culture to complain: [On the night of April 16th] at 1:25 a.m., I received a call. The moment I said \u201cHello,\u201d the person on the line said: \u201cWe follow you like a shadow. We can kill you without any problems. We can throw grenades in your office at any moment. We can set your office on fire whenever we decide. The better way, perhaps, is to silence you with thirty bullets from a Kalashnikov. We can kill you right now. No one can stop us, neither the master of democracy\u201d\u2014by which he meant the USA\u2014\u201cnor any technocrats\u201d\u2014by which he meant the cabinet ministers who had come from the west [e.g., Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani and Interior Minister Jalali]. \u201cBe sure: the day is not far off when you will be killed.\u201d I was really shocked, and I could not sleep. [Today] I went with lots of fear to the Ministry of Information and Culture and reported to them my experience, and I asked them to help me. The deputy of the Ministry of Information and Culture\u2014[Abdul Hamid] Mubariz\u2014wrote a letter to the Ministry of Interior Affairs and I submitted the letter to them. . . . But I told Mr. Mubariz, \u201cI do not trust the Afghan Police because the elements who threatened me with death might be among the forces that you asked to protect me.\u201d After a week, a sympathetic police commander showed up in Mahdavi\u2019s office and offered to help, he said. The commander said he would try to get approval to deploy \u201cthree or four policemen to keep guard at the front door of my office.\u201d247<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Mahdavi was thankful but, he explained, he was soon disappointed: [The commander] came back to my office and gave me a very unexpected shock. He told me that the answer he got from his senior authority was strange. He said that the senior authority in the Ministry of Interior Affairs had said that because\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0was insulting to people and to Islam, \u201cthe editor should face the consequences. The police should do nothing to protect the editor of\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0when people confront him.\u201d Mahdavi was terrified, he told us, and contacted other journalists and international organizations for help. Mahdavi told us that he spoke with officials at the U.N. mission and other international agencies, who contacted officials in President Karzai\u2019s cabinet. His case began to receive international media attention,248<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0and the threats tapered off. But then, on June 17, Kabul police arrested Mahdavi and another\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0editor, Ali Payam Sistany, after\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0printed a set of articles calling for political pluralism, discussing manifestations of Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan, and criticizing Fazel Hadi Shinwari, the Chief Justice of Afghanistan, and clerical leaders in Afghanistan generally.249<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0According to other officials familiar with the case, the chief justice of Afghanistan, Fazel Hadi Shinwari (a cleric with close ties to Sayyaf), asked police officials in Kabul to arrest Mahdavi and Sistany for charges of \u201cblasphemy\u201d after he had received complaints from several clerical leaders in Kabul.250<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Shirwari then convinced the Attorney General\u2019s Office to file charges of blasphemy against Mahdavi and Sistany.251<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Kabul police held the two editors for a week. President Karzai ordered them released on June 25, but said that they would still have to stand trial for blasphemy. The Case of Erada Newspaper<\/strong><\/a> Zahoor Afghan, the editor of another independent Kabul newspaper,\u00a0Erada<\/em>\u00a0(\u201cDecision\u201d),received numerous telephone death threats after he published an article in late April 2003 lampooning Education Minister Qanooni for not spending any time at work.252<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0On April 30, 2003, Kabul police arrested him and held him for several hours before releasing him, saying they would arrest him again later.253<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0He told Human Rights Watch that he was angry to be in such a vulnerable position: I have been intimidated. Maybe I will be killed at any moment. Armed men have shown up at my office time and again. . . . I have no security\u2014my office has changed into a prison for me. I cannot go out. I cannot work freely. I was looking hopefully to all the human rights organizations here, that these organizations would do something, but I was wrong.254<\/sup><\/a> According to Zahoor, an attorney in the Kabul Attorney General\u2019s Office told him he had \u201cnot violated any law,\u201d but the attorney said his \u201cboss\u201d ordered him \u201cfor the fifth time\u201d to \u201cprove that I had violated the law.\u201d255<\/sup><\/a> [D]efinitely I will be imprisoned. Because their will is law, and I have criticized the man in power. The minister of information and culture has done nothing in this regard. He only attached a letter to the complaint letter that I submitted to them and sent it to Attorney General\u2019s Office asking for a fair investigation, instead of taking a strong stand to defend the rights of freedom of expression and the rights of journalists. I am completely disappointed with Ministry of Information and Culture.256<\/sup><\/a> Zahoor told Human Rights Watch that he would be more careful about what he was writing in the future. The Case of Farda Newspaper<\/strong><\/a> Another case concerned the independent Kabul paper,Farda\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cTomorrow\u201d). In December 2002,Farda\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0editor, Abdul Ghafoor Iteqad, published a cartoon in the newspaper of President Karzai and Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani playing musical instruments and singing \u201cReconstruction, Reconstruction,\u201d with the U.N. representative Lakhdar Brahimi beside them. Police came to Iteqad\u2019s house on December 19, 2002, and arrested him, telling him and his family they were acting on Defense Minister Fahim\u2019s orders. Two days later, President Karzai heard about Iteqad\u2019s arrest and ordered him released.257<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0What happened to Iteqad is widely known in Kabul, and many journalists cite this story in describing why they are now more careful about what the write. Other Journalists<\/strong><\/a> Human Rights Watch also spoke with other journalists threatened by police, army, and intelligence forces who asked that their names not be used. One editor described his experiences in March 2003: I published a cartoon [including a caricature of President Karzai and Defense Minister Fahim]. I received many calls and much intimidation because of that. Some armed men, some gunmen, came to my house and to my office. They threatened me. They said, \u201cLook, killing you is a very easy thing for us. Look: we have thirty bullets in our clips. I can shoot all of these thirty bullets into your chest right now, and there is no one who can stop us.\u201d I said, \u201cBut the cartoon is of Karzai\u2014not just about Fahim.\u201d They said, \u201cWe don\u2019t care about Karzai\u2014Fahim is our king. We know him, we know Fahim, and we won\u2019t tolerate disrespect for him.\u201d Well, maybe Fahim ordered it or maybe not. Who knows? The intimidation is a chronic problem. It is especially bad because it has created an atmosphere of self-censorship. All the journalists try to write with precaution\u2014they use caution always. No one dares to criticize the commanders or members of the cabinet. We do not have a government that can really protect journalists here . . . so journalists know that if they make mistakes, they will pay the price.258<\/sup><\/a> The editor told us that he was also threatened in March after he published some articles about former president Burhanuddin Rabbani: I published a series of articles on Rabbani\u2019s past activities. . . during his first time in power [in 1992-1994] on how he misused his power and money, and destroyed Kabul. \u201cThese are his achievements,\u201d I wrote. I received many threats from his people about this. One of his gunmen came a few weeks ago and said to me, \u201cLook, man: we can kill you\u2014it is easy. But we will not. But we will do something so that you will hate yourself and repent.\u201d Meanwhile, Rabbani\u2019s paper,\u00a0Message of Mujahidin,\u00a0<\/em>leveled all sorts of accusations at me.259<\/sup><\/a> The editor also said that Ismail Khan, the governor of Herat, personally called him on the telephone after the editor published a critical article about him. \u201c[Ismail Khan] said, \u2018If I decide to take a step against you, I can do it and in Kabul as well.\u2019\u201d260<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0The editor noted that problems with threats and intimidation were even worse outside of Kabul. [I]n the provinces, the situation is even worse. Here in Kabul, because of the presence of ISAF, the international community, and human rights groups, these forces who violate freedom of expression have to behave themselves better, to an extent. But in rural areas they can do anything. Their hands are not tied in any way.261<\/sup><\/a> The western province of\u00a0Herat<\/strong>\u00a0is notable for its problems with press freedom. Governor Ismail Khan\u2019s crackdowns on free expression, previously documented in a 2002 Human Rights Watch report, have continued.262<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0On March 19, 2003, Ahmad Behzad, a radio stringer for Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, was detained and beaten by the chief of intelligence in Herat after he asked Ismail Khan questions about women\u2019s rights during a ceremony inaugurating the Herat office of Afghanistan\u2019s Independent Human Rights Commission.263<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Two days later, Ismail Khan gave a speech in Herat during which he said that journalists working for international radio broadcasters were \u201cslaves\u201d and warned, \u201cI would like to tell [the radio journalists] that just like those who served the Russians and benefited from them, they too will meet the same end.\u201d264<\/sup><\/a> In\u00a0Gardez<\/strong>, a radio journalist complained to Human Rights Watch that local military commanders harassed and threatened him after he filed a story about a rival commander\u2019s traveling schedule.265<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0The journalist said he was unable to write freely about the situation in his province: When we interview people, we have to be careful. In all the interviews, we cannot say anything against the governor or the commanders. We have to say everything is great and that it is great because of the governor. If people are being harassed, if army soldiers are marching and fighting in the street, if police are stealing, we should say that everything is O.K. If people are starving, we should say that everything is O.K. That is our freedom of expression!\u00a0[266]<\/a> A report in May 2003 by the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, an international non-profit news organization operating media assistance programs in Kabul, noted that local authorities had prohibited newspapers in\u00a0Paktia<\/strong>\u00a0(Wranga<\/em>) and\u00a0Baghlan<\/strong>\u00a0(Telaia<\/em>) from publishing \u201ccontroversial material.\u201d267<\/sup><\/a> In\u00a0Jalalabad<\/strong>, Human Rights Watch found troubling signs of repression as well. Several journalists told Human Rights Watch that they were afraid of publishing articles about security problems in Jalalabad, or articles critical of leaders there.268<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0A resident familiar with media issues described a pervasive climate of fear in Jalalabad: There are various problems for freedom of expression. The actual presence of guns pressures journalists: they will not dare to say the facts and reflect the realities. They feel that there is potential danger all around that at any moment can take actual form.269<\/sup><\/a> On April 30, 2003, a provincial police commander of Jalalabad threatened a local radio stringer for filing a report about the Jalalabad bazaar being closed for Mujahidin Day (April 28, the day mujahidin forces overthrew the formerly Soviet-back government in Kabul), which the commander found offensive, possibly because it suggested that there were security problems in Jalalabad.270<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0A witness heard the commander say to the stringer: \u201cIf you give another report like the one you gave the night before, we will deal strictly and harshly with you. Be careful what you report. It is dangerous and you will harm yourself.\u201d271<\/sup><\/a> On May 7, 2003, a police commander from neighboring\u00a0Laghman<\/strong>\u00a0province, Mohammed Zaman, gave a public speech in Jalalabad, during which he criticized journalists and residents of Jalalabad for speaking with foreign media about their security problems and difficulties in speaking openly: \u201cI admit that security is not good here, and you cannot dare to speak openly. In spite of that, it is shame to raise our complaints to the international media. It is a great indignity for us.\u201d272<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Witnesses said they believed this statement had been directed at the local journalists.273<\/sup><\/a> Even officials with the local\u00a0Nangarhar<\/strong>\u00a0television and radio, who were appointed with approval and support of the local military commander and governor, have faced problems\u2014from other commanders. According to a Kabul journalist, during the second week of April 2003, police troops from the local criminal branch of the police station beat the productionmanager of Nangarhar television and radio, and the manager of the Nangarhar news service.274<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0The head of the criminal branch was angry that the station had not broadcast a news story on a meeting the he had convened that day: \u201c[They] were beaten by the police provincial commander because the television had not broadcast the meeting,\u201d a local government official who spoke with the men said.275<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0According to the official: When incidents like this happen, journalists are discouraged. It signals danger for them. . . . In addition, journalists are afraid to ask questions of the concerned persons in authority or persons involved in any case or incident. Media, whether national or international, cannot reflect human right abuses. They know that irresponsible gunmen kill people without any consideration and that they will be killed too.276<\/sup><\/a> Journalists told us that commanders and their armed men had also pressured local print journalists in Jalalabad to write specific stories or to write stories just as commanders dictated them.277<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0\u201cOf course I am afraid of gunmen,\u201d said one.278<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch asked the journalist what would happen if he were to file stories about poor security conditions in Jalalabad or stories critical of local security forces. The response: \u201cThere is no doubt that I would be killed immediately.\u201d279<\/sup><\/a> One former journalist, now a rickshaw driver, explained why had stopped trying to work in media: I prefer working as a rickshaw driver rather than a journalist. Because here in my taxi, to some extent, I am by myself and independent. Journalists, however, have no security. . . . Journalists should enjoy freedom of expression. Here you do not. If you work as a journalist, you cannot expose the facts. If you do, your life will be seriously in danger. Who can protect you? No one. Therefore, it is better to be safe rather than be killed.280<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0 240<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0For a review of attacks on press freedom in Afghanistan in 2002, see Reporters San Frontieres,\u00a02003 Report,<\/em>\u00a0Afghanistan Chapter, available at http:\/\/www.rsf.fr\/article.php3?id_article=6370 (retrieved July 10, 2003). See also Committee to Protect Journalists,\u00a0Attacks on the Press in 2002,\u00a0<\/em>Afghanistan Chapter,available at http:\/\/www.cpj.org\/attacks02\/asia02\/afghan.html (retrieved July 10, 2003). 241<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interviews with G.R.Q. and D.S.U., Afghan journalists, Kabul, May 15, 2003; Human Rights Watch interview with A.U.Z., Afghan journalist, Kabul, May 15, 2003. 242<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Aftab<\/em>, March 18, 2003. 243<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Aftab<\/em>, March 27, 2003 244<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Aftab<\/em>, April 9, 2003;\u00a0Aftab<\/em>, April 12, 2003. 245<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0The following account, including all quotations, is from a Human Rights Watch interview with Sayeed Mir Hussein Mahdavi in Kabul on April 17, 2003. 246<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with Sayeed Mir Hussein Mahdavi, Kabul, April 17, 2003. 247<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Ibid. 248<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Todd Pitman, \u201cAfghan journalists test boundaries of press freedom in post-Taliban era,\u201d Associated Press, May 7, 2003. BBC Persian Service also broadcast stories about\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0and press freedom on May 2, 2003. 249<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with Z.T.Y.U.,\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0staff, Kabul June 17, 2003;\u00a0Aftab<\/em>, \u201cSacred Fascism,\u201d and \u201cReligious Government Equals Despotism,\u201d June 15, 2003 (translation on file with Human Rights Watch). 250<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with U.N. officials and Afghan government officials, Kabul, June 22 and 23, 2003. 251<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch also documented that Amniat-e Melli and Kabul police agents broke up a meeting on June 19, 2003, that had been earlier scheduled by the\u00a0Aftab<\/em>\u00a0paper to commemorate the death of the Iranian writer Ali Shariati. Kabul police and Amniat-e Melli agents entered the meeting, armed, and harassed the participants, telling them they had no permission to meet. Human Rights Watch interviews with participants of a rally in Wazar Akbar Khan park, June 19, 2003. 252<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0According to Zahoor, the common theme of the threats was: \u201cWe have killed hundreds of people and we can kill you too.\u201d Human Rights Watch interview with Zafoor Afghan, chief editor of\u00a0Erada<\/em>, May 1, 2003. See also Todd Pitman, \u201cAfghan journalists test boundaries of press freedom in post-Taliban era,\u201d Associated Press, May 7, 2003. 253<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with Zafoor Afghan, chief editor of\u00a0Erada<\/em>, Kabul, May 1, 2003. 254<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Ibid. 255<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Ibid. 256<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Ibid. 257<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with Abdul Ghafoor Iteqad, editor of\u00a0Farda<\/em>, Kabul, May 23, 2003. See also, \u201cAfghan publisher detained for unflattering cartoon of Karzai,\u201d Agence France-Presse, December 20, 2002; Carlotta Gall, \u201cAfghan editors test freedom\u2019s boundaries with cartoons,\u201d\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, January 11, 2003. 258<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with E.G.R., editor, Kabul, March 29, 2003. 259<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Ibid. 260<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Ibid. 261<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Ibid. The editor singled out Herat as one of the worse areas: \u201cIn Herat and in rural areas there are no protections for journalists of any kind.\u201d 262<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch, \u201cAll Our Hopes Are Crushed.\u201d 263<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmed Behzood, Kabul, March 29, 2003. 264<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, \u201cAfghan governor throws RFE\/RL reporter out of Herat,\u201d March 25, 2003. Two days after Ismail Khan\u2019s speech, Abdul Hamid Mubariz, the Minister of Information and Culture, condemned the attack on Behzood in an interview with the\u00a0Kabul Times,<\/em>\u00a0criticizing Ismail Khan\u2019s actions, but he was unable to do more than urge Ismail Khan to \u201crevise his attitude.\u201d See\u00a0Kabul Times<\/em>\u00a0(English), interview with Abdul Hamid Mubariz, March 26, 2003. [265]<\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with R.G.D., journalist, Gardez, March 9, 2003. [266]<\/a>\u00a0Ibid. 267<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Institute of War and Peace Reporting, \u201cReporters face death threats,\u201d\u00a0Afghan Recovery Report<\/em>,May 9, 2003, available at http:\/\/www.iwpr.net\/index.pl?archive\/arr\/arr_200305_59_1_eng.txt (retrieved July 10, 2003). 268<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with M.E.R., journalist, Kabul, March 22, 2003; Human Rights Watch interview with A.O.W., journalist, Kabul, April 20, 2003; Human Rights Watch interview with L.W.S., journalist, Jalalabad, May 6, 2003; Human Rights Watch interview with A.R.K., journalist, Jalalabad May 7, 2003; Human Rights Watch interview with I.K.W., journalist, Jalalabad, May 7, 2003. 269<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with Z.R.D., Jalalabad, May 6, 2003. 270<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with A.R.K., journalist, Jalalabad May 7, 2003. 271<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Ibid. 272<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Speech by Mohammed Zaman at the inauguration of the Eastern Region Constitutional Office, Jalalabad, May 7, 2003 (notes on file with Human Rights Watch). 273<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with A.R.K., journalist, Jalalabad May 7, 2003; Human Rights Watch interview with I.K.W., journalist, Jalalabad, May 7, 2003. 274<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with A.O.W., journalist, Kabul, April 20, 2003. 275<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with Z.R.D., Jalalabad, May 6, 2003. \u201cThe television had not broadcast it because there were many other programs that had to be broadcast too,\u201d he said. 276<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with Z.R.D., Jalalabad, May 6, 2003. 277<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with A.O.W., journalist, Kabul, April 20, 2003; Human Rights Watch interview with A.R.K., journalist, Jalalabad May 7, 2003. 278<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with A.O.W., Kabul, April 20, 2003. 279<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Ibid. 280<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Human Rights Watch interview with A.M.R.D., Jalalabad, May 5, 2003. \u00a0 <<previous<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0index<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0next>><\/a> July 2003<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Human Rights Watch Security forces in many provinces in Afghanistan, including Kabul, continue to harass, threaten, arrest, and beat up local journalists and editors in Afghanistan to punish them for what they have published or broadcast, or to intimidate them not to publish in the future.240\u00a0This section highlights press attacks documented by Human Rights…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369,"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366\/revisions\/369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mmahdavi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}