Adding to a list of Taliban atrocities, two Afghan Journalists were left with immense bruises in Kabul. Their crime: covering protests in the Afghan capital.
According to Taqi Daryabi and his colleague Nematullah Naqdi, of the daily newspaper Etilaat Roz (Information Daily), the Taliban separated them into two rooms, insulted, and flogged them with cables after accusing them of organising the protest as per Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The two were reporting on a protest by women demanding the right to work and education in front of a police station.
Naqdi said he was stopped by a Taliban fighter as soon as he started taking pictures.
“They told me that you cannot film’,” he told AFP. Moreover he said that Taliban fighters insulted him and kicked him in the head and that a Taliban fighter placed his foot on his head and crushed his face against the concrete. When he was asked why he was being beaten, he was told, “you are lucky you weren’t beheaded.”
Zaki Daryabi, the daily newspaper publisher told Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) via phone that the Taliban subjected the reporters to severe physical abuse that he described as “torture” for four hours that each lost consciousness at least four times in custody. However, CPJ could not independently confirm allegations of torture.
According to the BBC, their journalists were also prevented from filming. Not only this, Al-Jazeera reported that three of their reporters said that Taliban fighters pushed, slapped them and took their belongings.
Over the last days, the Taliban detained and later released at least 14 journalists covering protests against the group, At least nine of these journalists were subject to violence during their detention.