Afghans Beyond Taliban

Nazari Paryani, the news editor of the daily Payman, has been released after eight days of detention in Kabul because of an allegedly blasphemous article that was published by mistake. Paryani was freed provisionally and still faces possible prosecution. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for all charges to be dropped. Exhausted by the ordeal, Paryani on Thursday told Paris-based RSF: “I...

The Afghanistan prosecutor-general has decided to continue the detention of journalist Nazari Paryani, head of news pages on the daily Payman. He has been imprisoned at the remand jail in Kabul since January 13. “The newspaper mistakenly published an article containing ambiguous judgements about religions, but Nazari Paryani had no direct responsibility for this," Reporters sans Frontières (RSF)...

Afghan authorities have released two local employees of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Kabul who were arrested a few hours after CBC reporter Mellissa Fung’s abduction on October 12. Fung was freed four weeks later, but the two brothers—Shokoor Feroz, a fixer, and Qaem Feroz, a driver—were detained by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) till Monday. Fung, a correspondent with the...

Press freedom groups have called for the release of two local employees of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Kabul who were arrested a few hours after CBC reporter Mellissa Fung’s abduction on October 12. Fung was freed four weeks later but the two are still detained by the National Directorate of Security (NDS). “If there is evidence against Shokoor Feroz, a fixer, and Qaem Feroz, a driver...

Afghan abductors kept a Canadian journalist captive, sometimes blindfolded and chained, in a cave for four weeks before she was freed, the reporter said Sunday. Mellissa Fung, a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp in Afghanistan, was freed on Saturday after being abducted a month ago near capital Kabul. Fung was the second abducted foreign journalist to be released in two days. On...

A Dutch journalist abducted by suspected Taliban rebels in Afghanistan a week ago was freed Friday and is in good health, her employer said. Joanie de Rijke, 43, was captured on Saturday last week while she was en route to do a story about a group of Taliban who had killed 10 French soldiers in August, an editor at the Belgian P-magazine told agence France-Presse (AFP). Michael Lescroart...

Afghan freelance journalist Jawed Ahmad recently freed after spending 11 months in a US military prison says he was arrested at the suggestion of the Canadian forces. According to a Canadian Press report, Ahmad, known by the nickname Jojo among western journalists in Afghanistan, said, "It was Canadians who told them I was a risk." Ahmad, 22, was detained October 26, 2007, at a NATO base near the...

The US military has freed Afghan journalist held Jawed Ahmad who was held as an "enemy combatant" at the main American base in Afghanistan. Ahmad, who worked for Canadian TV network CTV, was handed over to Afghan authorities Sunday, a spokesman of the US-led coalition announced. He is no longer considered a threat. Ahmad, 22, was detained October 26, 2007, at a NATO base near the city of Kandahar...

Afghan television reporter Mohammad Nasir Fayyaz was detained one day after his television station aired a documentary that was critical of some cabinet members and their ministries, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The programme was cut short while being broadcast, apparently at the demand of the government, media reports said. Afghan and foreign media reports said Fayyaz...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the release of Mohammed Naseer Fayyaz, the host of the programme "Haqeeqat" (The Truth) on Afghanistan's privately-owned Ariana TV, who was arrested on July 28 by members of the Directorate for National Security (DNS) at the government's behest. "Harsh comments were made on the air about two ministers and the president but the government is making a...