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Afghanistan What Gains for Press Freedom from Hamid Karzai’S Seven Years As President?

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Afghanistan What Gains for Press Freedom from Hamid Karzai’S Seven Years As President? "We have free speech, but we're not safe © AFP and we don't act responsibly" Afghanistan What gains for press freedom from Hamid Karzai’s seven years as president? March 2009 Investigation : Vincent Brossel, Jean-François Julliard, Reza Moini Reporters Without Borders 47, rue Vivienne - 75002 Paris - France Tél : (33) 1 44 83 84 84 - Fax : (33) 1 45 23 11 51 E-mail : [email protected] Web : www.rsf.org The reign of the Taliban from 1996 to 2001 Is freedom a government priority? was a dark period in Afghanistan’s history.All freedom, except the freedom to pray, was Reporters Without Borders urges President suppressed for five years.The Afghan govern- Karzai and the international community to ment and the international community nowa- make press freedom one of their priorities. days refer to press freedom as one of the gains of the post-Taliban era. The emergence Afghanistan has around 300 newspapers of hundreds of news media, including priva- (including 14 dailies), at least 15 TV stations, tely-owned radio and TV stations, has indeed hundreds of privately-owned radio stations transformed the way Afghans get their news. and seven news agencies.The current number of media and journalists is unprecedented. But, seven years after the fall of the Taliban, Media diversity is an inescapable reality that is journalists still do not enjoy the safety they due to the policies of President Karzai and need to do their job properly.The press also the international community. But at the same faces new dangers – including threats from time, violence against the press has been drug gangs, the threat of kidnapping and poli- increasing steadily, and the evidence of the ticisation of the charge of blasphemy – which government’s commitment to combat this is President Hamid Karzai’s government has fai- much more tenuous. led to rein in. If indeed it wants to. Referring to the violence against journalists, A Reporters Without Borders delegation Farida Nekzad of the independent news made a fact-finding visit to Afghanistan in agency Pajhwok said:“Our first concern is the January, meeting the justice minister, the cul- hostility of the armed opposition, above all ture and information minister, the head of the certainTaliban groups.Then religion and tradi- president’s press office, a member of the tion threaten the right of women to be jour- Council of Ulemas, civil society representa- nalists. The warlords, for their part, represent tives, foreign correspondents, members of the a threat to all journalists who in one way or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) another oppose their power. Finally, there are and diplomats, as well as many local journa- the international forces, which obstruct lists and representatives of media and journa- access to the field or access to information, lists’ organisations from Kabul, Kandahar, especially information about all the civilian Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat. casualties.” The political, economic and security crisis in Most of the Afghan journalists who were Afghanistan has a major impact on the work interviewed hailed the progress made since of the media.All Afghans, including journalists, 2001. “Much has clearly been achieved,” said are in danger. The authorities are unable to BakhtarTV deputy chief Dr.Ayubi.“Freedom of provide even the most basic protection for expression is an everyday reality, but we have journalists. Reporters Without Borders regis- to face recurring problems – the lack of pro- tered 24 physical attacks, 35 cases of death tection for journalists in the provinces, the threats, 14 arrests and seven kidnappings difficulty of getting access to information, involving journalists from June 2007 to especially from the government, and the bad January 2009. Dozens of other journalists, faith demonstrated by the authorities as above all women and provincial reporters, regards ensuring respect for the constitution were forced to stop working because of and laws that nonetheless protect us.” threats and harassment. How can the government and international The NAI, an Afghan NGO, documented 50 community hope to combat the corruption press freedom violations in 2008, 28 of them poisoning the entire state if there is no free by the authorities and six by the Taliban.The press capable of exposing all the faults and fai- head of NAI, Mir Abdul Wahed Hashimi, said: lings of misgovernance? How can you combat “Most of the attacks against journalists took drug trafficking if investigative reporting is place in Kabul because there are fewer and impossible in the south, which is largely under fewer independent journalists in the south.” Taliban control? How can you combat Taliban Afghanistan What gains for press freedom fromseven Hamid years Karzai’s as president? 1 obscurantism if the government is incapable If the government neglects the defence of free of defending free speech? How do you pro- speech, it will lost the confidence of Afghan mote economic development if entire regions journalists and the support of international are denied information about the new oppor- public opinion, thereby complicating matters tunities available? And, finally, how do you dis- for those governments, including those of the cover and denounce abuses by theTaliban and European Union, that are supporting the warlords if journalists are no longer safe Afghanistan financially, militarily and politically. in much of the country? “The Afghan press will be exposed to every Press freedom is a need, not a luxury, for kind of danger in 2009,” a representative of Afghans, especially the young people who the United Nations Assistance Mission in represent the majority of the population and Afghanistan (UNAMA) said. “The security who greeted the emergence of privately- situation and pre- and post-electoral tension owned media with enthusiasm. The Afghan will require the utmost vigilance on our part.” media are essential for them to be able to Barry Salam, the head of the Good Morning decide who should govern the country when Afghanistan radio network said:“To make sure elections are held soon. it is reelected, the government is going to be forced to obstruct the flow of information, Most of the people interviewed believe there because the situation in the country is deplo- has never been any increase in the freedom to rable. We could be in for even more bad sur- express one’s views on religion, and some of prises as international support for the media them lamented this. “Intellectuals such as is not as strong as before. We are free but Mohahqeq Nasab tried to start a debate but we're not safe and we don't act responsibly.” they were immediately blocked by the conservatives and the judicial system,” said Shahir Ahmad Zahine, one of the founders of Taliban, predators of press freedom the Killid group. Others urged patience. “Our society will evolve only very slowly in this res- The main responsibility pect,” said Fahim Dashty of Kabul Weekly. for this climate of insecu- “Journalists should not try to impose a rity lies with the armed debate.” opposition, especially the Taliban groups. Fear has Council of Ulemas spokesman Fazel Ahamad Ajmal Naqshbandi taken hold of the media as Manawi was adamant:“The Council of Ulemas a result of Taliban threats of Afghanistan respects free expression and and harassment by telephone, their accusa- regards it as an important gain. But free tions of spying and their kidnappings of jour- expression does not mean the right to insult nalists. The murder of journalist Ajmal what is holy, to insult the people’s religious Naqshbandi by Taliban linked to Mullah feelings.The Council of Ulemas has a duty to Dadullah and the absolute censorship that take a position whenever the Sharia and Islam prevailed during Mullah Omar’s Islamic emi- are attacked.” rate offer little hope that Afghanistan’s jiha- dists have come to accept free speech. They Reporters Without Borders thinks the continue to be dangerous predators of press government should, as a matter of urgency, freedom. promulgate the new press law currently under consideration, combat impunity for TheTaliban have sometimes invited Afghan and those who murder journalists and do what is foreign journalists to cover their activities and necessary to stop the threats and attacks on have sent reassuring messages to the media, the press. Presidential spokesman Humayun but they do not agree to journalists moving Hamidzada told Reporters Without Borders about freely in their “territory” or intervie- that “press freedom is one of the govern- wing witnesses of their abuses. A recent ment’s priorities” but he added that “freedom International Crisis Group report quoted a of expression is abused by too many, above all journalist as saying a Taliban killed two state to defame others without proof.” school students after they talked to him. Afghanistan What gains for press freedom fromseven Hamid years Karzai’s as president? 2 Reporters Without Borders has no illusions from quoting or meeting with members of about theTaliban concept of press freedom. In the armed opposition, as the Afghan govern- a 2000 report, it described Afghanistan as a ment tried to do for a while. But it is impor- country “without news or pictures,” a coun- tant to establish rules of conduct to avoid just try in which journalism had been reduced to relaying the propaganda being put out by the miserable shadow of what it should be. declared enemies of press freedom. “The Taliban need the media to get their messages out and to raise funds, especially abroad, and because they derive satisfaction from it, and in that sense they have a better public relations policy than the government,” said the New York Times Kabul correspondent, Carlotta Gall. Threats, kidnappings and murders – a sharp decline in safety DR Daniel Mastrogiacomo et son équipe enlevés par les taliban Two journalists were killed in 2008 and 50 were injured or attacked.The threats against Afghan journalists and visiting foreign journa- The Taliban website in three languages is very lists are becoming more and more diverse.As active and updated.
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