The United Nations’ mission to Afghanistan said Tuesday that the ruling Taliban had arbitrarily detained journalists 256 times since their takeover three years ago and urged authorities there to protect the media.
In a reply accompanying the report, the Taliban-led foreign ministry denied having arrested that number of journalists and added that those arrested had committed a crime.
Journalists in Afghanistan worked under “challenging conditions”, the U.N. mission (UNAMA) and the U.N. Human Rights Office said in a statement.
It described the U.N. report as being “far from actual realities” and said security forces were working to protect journalists.
The foreign ministry said the arrest figure was “exaggerated” and detentions took place subject to law.
Persons:
“, ”, Roza Otunbayeva, Antonio Guterres, Nemat Naqdi, Taqi Daryabi, Marcus Yam
Organizations:
United Nations, Journalists, Human Rights, Los Angeles Times, Getty
Locations:
Afghanistan, Kabul