Taliban Sentences Journalist To 1 Month In Prison In Ghazni, Says AFJC

The Afghanistan Journalists Centre (AFJC) reported that a Taliban court in Ghazni sentenced Hekmat Aryan, the editor-in-chief of Radio Khushal, to one month in prison.

The journalists' advocacy group said that the Taliban's intelligence agency had opposed the sentence and called for an extension of the journalist's prison term.

On Monday, October 14, the Afghanistan Journalists Centre issued a statement expressing concern over the continued detention of the journalist and the interference of the Taliban's intelligence agency in accordance with the group's court order, and called for the immediate and unconditional release of Hekmat Aryan.

The Centre quoted sources as saying that the journalist was sentenced to prison on Sunday on charges of publishing a report on the Taliban's combat operations.

The head of the private radio station "Khushal" was arrested by the Taliban intelligence agency from his office in Ghazni city on September 29.

Sulaiman Rahel, an employee of the station, said that before the Taliban's return to power, Hekmat Aryan had published a book written by an Afghan writer about the war in Afghanistan and the parties involved in it.

The director in charge of Radio Khushal has been accused of insulting the Taliban in the audio tape.

The Afghanistan Journalists Centre (AFJC) called the sentencing of the journalist "opaque" and "unfair" and warned against the Taliban's interference in the case.

The Centre has asked the Taliban court in Ghazni to reconsider its verdict and drop the journalist's charges.