The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for the immediate release of three journalists - Ismail Saadat, Wahidullah Masum, and Ehsanullah Tasal - detained in Khost province.
The committee urged the Taliban to refrain from harassing and mistreating journalists.
Saadat, a journalist of Radio Naz; Masum, a journalist of Radio Iqra, and Tasal, a journalist of Radio Wolas Ghag, were detained on Monday, April 22, after being summoned by the provincial directorate of the Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Sources informed CPJ that the Taliban detained these journalists for broadcasting music and talking to female callers.
According to the sources, these three journalists have been transferred to the police command of Khost province and are expected to face trial soon.
After the takeover of power in Afghanistan, the Taliban banned the broadcast of music in the media.
The Afghanistan Journalists’ Centre (AFJC) reported that Taliban authorities in Khost province last month prohibited women and girls from making phone calls to the media.
According to AFJC, female listeners in some cases used to call in for questions and answers during educational programmes.
Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s programme director, called the detention of Khost journalists "the latest example of ruthless media suppression by the Taliban”.
The Taliban has stated that media can only operate within the framework of the values and policies approved by the group in Afghanistan.
Earlier, the Taliban banned the operation of two television networks on charges of violating "national and Islamic values”.
Furthermore, the Taliban's Minister of Communications announced plans to impose restrictions on Afghan users' access to Facebook in Afghanistan.
