Journalists highlight harassment

Journalists in Afghanistan marked World Press Freedom Day on Saturday by highlighting incidences of harassment by President Hamid Karzai's interim government. "There are threats from many directions," Shukria Dawi, the editor of the Women's Mirror weekly, told IRIN in the capital, Kabul, noting that she had been warned by politicians several times against criticising or addressing them in her editorials and writings. "The armed political parties, irresponsible gunmen and the continued threat from Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are the main three threats against journalists in Afghanistan," Dawi said, stressing that while political parties remained armed, freedom of expression would be seriously undermined in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that attacks and threats against Afghan journalists had increased sharply in recent weeks. "Afghan journalists are finding it increasingly difficult to carry out simple reporting, because they are being intimidated," John Sifton, a researcher for HRW, told IRIN from New York on Friday. According to the human rights watchdog, many of the threats were delivered by members of Amniat-e Melli, the intelligence arm of the Afghan government, on behalf of the political organisation Shura-ye Nazar, a loosely coordinated group of former mujahidin parties. HRW said many of the threats and arrests occurred after journalists had criticised certain cabinet members in the Afghan government, including Defence Minister Mohammad Qasem Fahim, Education Minister Mohammad Yunos Qanuni and leading political figures in Kabul such as the former president of Afghanistan, Burhanuddin Rabbani, and Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful former mujahidin leader. The evidence of increasing harassment of journalists came to light following interviews carried out by HRW researchers with television, radio and print reporters in Kabul, as well as in western and southeastern Afghanistan. "Journalists are not writing openly, because they are in fear," Sifton added. Journalists operating in the western city of Herat have been attacked recently, allegedly on the instruction of the provincial governor, Isma'il Khan. Other incidents include the detention of the editor of the Irada weekly journal by the education deputy minister in Kabul, and the arrest of the Farda weekly editor by Defence Minister Fahim. But Dr Sayed Makhdum Rahin, the culture and information minister, told IRIN that Afghanistan was not a dangerous place for journalists. He said the existence of over 150 independent publications in Kabul alone indicated the existence of free speech and a healthy media environment in post-Taliban Afghanistan. "We have immediately and effectively reacted to any violent case against a journalist which has been reported to us," Rahin said, noting that most of the cases mentioned in the HRW report had been followed up by his ministry and resolved successfully. "Right now we are defending a journalist’s case in the court against the ministry of education," Rahin said. The minister added that he believed disarmament, the creation of a national army and national police force would further guarantee press freedom in Afghanistan.