An Afghan media watchdog says press freedom organizations and the families of 11 Afghan journalists detained by the Taliban have called for their release.
“Organizations supporting the media and the families of the detained journalists are demanding the immediate release of these journalists,” Zarif Karimi, the Afghan Free Media Support Organization (NAI), said in a statement on August 21.
Media watchdogs said Faqir Mohammad Faqirzai, Jan Agha Saleh, Habib Sarab, Wahdatullah Abdali, Haseeb Hassas, Attaullah Omar, Waheedur Rahman Afghanmal, Parvaiz Sargand, Shamsullah Omari, Mehboob Hakimi, and Shah Mahmood Hamdard have been detained on unspecified charges by the Taliban forces this month.
“The fate of the detained journalists is still unclear,” Karimi said.
Most detained reporters worked for independent Afghan media outlets in remote towns and cities in seven provinces.
Relatives say they are highly anxious about what is happening to their loved ones.
Nusratullah Omari, brother of Shamsullah Omari, one of the journalists arrested in the southern province of Kandahar, said his family had received no news about his brother after he was detained on August 13.
"My parents are extremely concerned,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “We don't know what crime he is accused of, but we want him to be released as soon as possible."
Hakim Hassas, the brother of Haseeb Hassas, a reporter for Salam Watandar Radio in the northeastern Kunduz Province, said the Taliban intelligence picked his brother up on August 9.
"My father was allowed to meet with him once for one minute," he told Radio Azadi. "He witnessed that Haseeb was traumatized and was unable to speak."
The Taliban has previously claimed that the arrests are unrelated to the reporters' professional work. Bilal Karimi, a Taliban spokesman, did not respond to Radio Azadi's repeated request for comments.
Last week the international press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders called for the "unconditional release" of all detained Afghan journalists.
Despite promises to allow press freedom after returning to power, the Taliban has shut down independent radio stations, television studios, and newspapers. Some media outlets have closed after losing funding.
The Taliban's hard-line government has banned some international broadcasters while some foreign correspondents were denied visas.
The ultraconservative Islamist group has also driven hundreds of Afghan journalists into exile.