Taliban Confirms Disrupting Afghanistan International’s Satellite Broadcasts

The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has released its three-year report on the state of media freedom in Afghanistan.

According to the report, the Taliban confirmed the jamming of broadcasts of the Afghanistan International Network satellite and called the activities of the exiled media "illegal”.

A UNAMA report released on Tuesday (November 26) said that the Taliban had violated freedom of expression and media by interfering in the content of domestic media broadcasts and activities.

‘Detention And Torture Of Journalists’

UNAMA said that during the three years of the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, it has recorded human rights violations that have affected 336 journalists and media workers.

UNAMA said that the Taliban had arbitrarily detained 249 journalists during this period. The United Nations has also documented 130 cases of torture and ill-treatment and 75 cases of threats against journalists.

According to the UNAMA report, before the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, about 543 media outlets and 10,790 media workers were active in the country, but only three months after the group's takeover, 43% of media outlets were blocked and the number of media workers was reduced to 4,360.

In the report, which examined the situation and media freedom in Afghanistan from 15 August 2021 to September 2024, UNAMA admitted that some human rights violations were not included in the report due to lack of verification. The United Nations has said that the violations of human rights and freedom of expression may be higher.

The report shows that the Taliban's Law for the Promotion of Virtue has had a negative impact on the activities of media and journalists, and has imposed restrictions on the content of publications, the clothing of women journalists, and the publication of images and photos.

UNAMA also said that the Taliban considers the activities of Afghan media in exile "illegal", which has led to severe restrictions on the internal staff of these media outlets in Afghanistan.

Referring to the Taliban's jamming of the broadcasts of Afghanistan International satellite, UNAMA said that the group has also imposed restrictions on other exiled media outlets in Afghanistan.

According to the UNAMA report, in addition to the Taliban's Ministry of Information and Culture, the Taliban's Ministry of Virtue and Intelligence Directorate also interfered in the work of the media. UNAMA has confirmed that the Media and Access to Information Law is under "Sharia-compliant" review.

The report also shows that the members of the Commission to Investigate Media Violations are mainly members of the Taliban, including the group's Intelligence Directorate and the Ministry of Virtue Promotion, and that no women are members of the commission.

UNAMA has published the Taliban's reaction in the appendix to its report. The Taliban's Foreign Ministry has said that broadcasting media from abroad should be legal for the people of Afghanistan. The group said that most of the media that currently broadcast from abroad do not have a licence from the group's Ministry of Information and Culture. The Taliban said that these media outlets are "considered illegal and their activities are prohibited”.

The Taliban has denied any violations of the rights of journalists and media.

UNAMA has called on the Taliban to refrain from threatening and arbitrarily detaining journalists and to lift restrictive measures against women journalists.

In recent months, the Taliban government has tried to disrupt Afghanistan International's satellite broadcasts by sending extensive disruptive frequencies. Afghanistan International called the attack a violation of press freedom and introduced a new satellite frequency to ensure its audience's continued access to free news and information.