Afghan and international media watchdogs have condemned Afghanistan's hardline Islamist Taliban rulers for handing down a one-year sentence to journalist Sultan Ali Jawadi on unspecified charges and called for his immediate release, along with the freeing of another recently detained media member.
In a December 12 statement, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) expressed "deep concern" over the sentencing of Jawadi, the manager of local broadcaster Nasim Radio, saying that while Taliban officials had refrained from commenting on the sentence, reliable sources said Jawadi was found guilty of "propaganda against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" and "espionage for foreign countries."
The AFJC denounced the sentence as "unfair and unacceptable due to the absence of a defense lawyer during the trial" and called for a "thorough review of the case, immediate and unconditional release of the journalist," and reopening of Nasim Radio.
Meanwhile, the International Committee to Protect Journalists also called on the Taliban, which seized power in the country in August 2021 as international troops withdrew, to release journalist Abdul Rahim Mohammadi.
The ultraconservative Islamist group has also driven hundreds of Afghan journalists into exile.
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