Amnesty Int’l Calls For Release Of Jawed Kohistani, Hekmat Aryan From Taliban Prison

Amnesty International has called the arrest of Jawed Kohistani, a political analyst and Hekmat Aryan, the head of a local radio station in Ghazni, a relentless crackdown on freedom of expression by the Taliban.

The group said that the Taliban had illegally detained Kohistani and Arian and they should be released immediately.

Amnesty International wrote on its official page on the X social media network on Thursday, that the Taliban's retaliatory measures violate Afghanistan's obligations under international human rights law.

On the other hand, the Afghanistan Journalists Support Organisation said in a statement that journalists and media workers in Afghanistan face serious threats and dangers compared to other parts of the world. The organisation stressed that journalists in Afghanistan are under pressure, censorship, torture and threats from the Taliban.

Earlier, the Afghanistan Journalists Centre announced that Hekmat Aryan was arrested by the Taliban intelligence agency from his office in Ghazni city on Sunday, September 29.

"Aryan has been accused of speaking in an audio tape about the Taliban's suicide operations in past wars and broadcasting them on the radio," the Afghanistan Journalists Centre said in a statement on Wednesday.

However, the Journalists Support Organisation says that journalists in Afghanistan currently do not have the right to work independence, freedom of expression, economic support, and the necessary facilities to inform the public. The organisation called on international institutions and human rights organisations to prevent the Taliban's mistreatment of journalists.