Key Points
- Three years after returning to power, the Taliban continues to put pressure on the media in Afghanistan.
- Some media outlets operate in exile, with security measures in place to protect reporters on the ground.
- The country ranks 178 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index.
The journalists do their work in secret, under code names.
Although some reporters live in the same Afghan city or village, their identities remain secret even from each other.
They work for Hasht e Subh, also known as 8am Media.
Once one of Afghanistan’s largest newspapers, it now operates online and in exile.
If journalists are caught, the risks are enormous.
“We have known cases of journalists being arrested simply for working for a media outlet operating from exile and then being tortured,” Parwiz Kawa, director of Hasht e Subh, told SBS World News.
In some cases they are imprisoned and there are also known cases of journalists going missing.
Parwiz Kawa
He is now in Canada and, along with other editors abroad, is helping to keep the news medium running.
Although the website is banned under the Taliban, the stories are still being spread in Afghanistan via social media. People can also access the stories if they have a VPN service to bypass the ban.
“It’s a bit tricky, we know, and we’re grateful for our staff on the ground. We know they file every report with a lot of risk and then they send it to our editors. We have a group of editors who are outside the country, and they process that, and then it gets translated into different languages and published,” Kawa said.
“In some cases, we have two reporters in one place, just to check and verify information. But they don’t know each other. We’re just trying to build this mechanism to protect them, to protect them, because we know that if one gets arrested, it could jeopardize the security and the safety of all the other employees.”
Exodus of journalists
Stations such as TOLO News continue to broadcast under the strict regime’s restrictions, but reportedly two-thirds of journalists who once worked in the country have left the profession, with many fleeing abroad.
Hundreds of other media companies were forced to close their doors.
In the latest case, the Taliban administration has suspended 14 media outlets in Nangarhar province, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Since the Taliban took power on August 15, 2021, nearly 50 percent of media outlets in Afghanistan have ceased operations, while an estimated 90 percent of female journalists have lost their jobs, UNESCO said. .
A Taliban security force member holds a vigil during an event marking World Press Freedom Day at the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) office in Kabul on May 3, 2023. Source: AFP / WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images
On the third anniversary of the fall of Kabul, Hasht e Subh published stories about the rise of anti-Taliban forces, the crisis of women’s rights in the country and the expansion of the regime’s religious schools.
Afghanistan currently ranks 178 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index. In 2021, just before the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan was ranked 122.
“The Taliban’s takeover of this country of 40 million people sounded the death knell for press freedom and the safety of journalists, especially female journalists,” said.
‘Institutionalized censorship’
Mirwais Haidari, an Afghan journalist who worked for various media outlets for 14 years, recently came to Australia on a humanitarian visa.
Haidari now lives in Sydney and told SBS Dari he had not originally planned to leave Afghanistan.
He said he continued working as a journalist after the fall of Afghanistan, but soon came under pressure from the Taliban.
“When I went to the office after the fall and wanted to start my TV program, I saw that one official was in the control room and the other in the studio.
“They instructed me to conduct the interview according to their wishes and they controlled everything,” Haidari said.
Mirwais Haidari is an Afghan journalist and television presenter currently living in Australia. Credit: Delivered/Mirwais Haidari
“Four days later, another group of Taliban officials stormed our office again. They gave me written questions and told me to tell the people that the Islamic Emirate group is good, that people should not be afraid, that they are not terrorists and that they have come for the safety of the people.”
According to Haidari, Taliban intelligence intervened and he was detained for a week.
“I was under the control of the 40th (intelligence service) for almost a week. I was pressured and tortured. The torture continued and they forced me to do what the Islamic Emirate said.”
Haidari said the experience took a heavy toll.
“My shoulder has suffered a serious injury, it has not fully recovered yet and I am still receiving treatment. There are some other issues that I cannot comment on.”
Mujeeb Rahman Awrang worked as a journalist in Afghanistan for six years.
He said he was forced to leave the country under pressure from the Taliban and is currently living in Pakistan.
“The Taliban agencies, especially the intelligence service and the Amr-e-Ma’roof (Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice), are constantly putting pressure on journalists and trying to institutionalize censorship,” he said.
This story was produced in partnership with SBS News, SBS Pashto and SBS Dari.
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