Afghans Beyond Taliban

American reporter David Rohde and his Afghan fixer Tahir Ludin have managed to escape from their Taliban captors who had been holding them for the past seven months. Their driver, Asadullah Mangal, is still being held. According to the New York Times, Rohde and Ludin escaped from the compound in which they were being held in North Waziristan, in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas, on June 19 and made their...

Two Al Jazeera journalists, Qais Azimy and Hameedullah Shah, who had been detained since June 14, have been relased, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The two journalists were released on June 16. Their colleagues said they spent part of the time chained to a chair and were prevented from sleeping by the National Directorate of Security officials who were holding them. Asked about...

Intelligence officials at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Kabul detained two Afghan journalists detained on Sunday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Qais Azimy and Hameedullah Shah, producers for Al-Jazeera, were detained separately on Sunday, two days before the country's presidential election campaigns are set to begin, according to according to an Al...

Afghan authorities failed to properly investigate the murder of Abdul Samad Rohani, the BBC World Service’s correspondent in the southern province of Helmand, whose body was found one year ago. His family and colleagues are still pressing for the truth about his death, especially for the identity of those who ordered it. “We will not give up demanding justice for journalists murdered in

Radio journalist Zakia Zaki's murder two years ago is still unpunished and her husband is sure that the lack of progress with the investigation is almost certainly due to the influence of the murder's masterminds. The director of Sada-e-Solh (Peace Radio), Zaki was gunned down in her home in Jabalussaraj, in the northern province of Parwan, on June 6, 2007. "We have not forgotten Zaki, who was an

Journalist Noorajan Bahir of independent radio Killid was released from a military base near the eastern town of Khost shortly before noon (local time) on June 4, two days after he was arrested by coalition forces and members of the Afghan military. The 28-year-old journalist, who is married, has worked for the independent radio station since 2004. "I was interrogated by American soldiers...

US-led coalition forces have arrested Noorajan Bahir, of radio Killid in Khost, eastern Afghanistan, along with his two brothers, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Bahir was arrested on Tuesday by coalition forces and members of the Afghan military and is now reportedly being held in the NATO base at Bagh-e-Sara. “It is essential and urgent that coalition forces’ officials provide...

Two commercial TV presenters, Fahim Kohdamani of Emroz and Ajmal Alamzai of Ariana TV, were arrested in Kabul on Monday. Alamzai was released late Monday night but Kohdamani is still being held, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “We call for Kohdamani’s immediate and unconditional release,” Paris-based said. “The Afghan government has again failed to respect press freedom, arbitrarily...

Jawed Ahmad, an Afghan journalist who worked for Canadian media, including the broadcaster CTV News, was gunned down on March 10 by two men in a vehicle as he was getting out of his own car in the centre of the southern city of Kandahar, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Ahmad, also known as Jojo Yazemi, died on the spot. His body was taken to a nearby hospital where members of his...

Supporters of suspended Congressman Narayan Rane attacked the office of Marathi daily Navakal in Mumbai on Thursday, the Times of India reported. The attack was apparently in protest against a satirical editorial written on Rane and his innings in different political parties. The protesters, who smashed windowpanes and hurled paver blocks into the newspaper house in Girgaum, claimed to be members...