12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Constitution and the Media Law of August 2005 protect freedom of expression; however, curbs o the media with regard to freedom of expression continued in 2006 and 2007 ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22647]

"Both the Constitution and the Media Law of August 2005 guarantee the inviolability of freedom of expression, and the right to print and publish without prior submission to State authorities. This is a positive development since the previous Press Law was not comprehensive and contained 37 crimes, which could potentially be used to limit freedom of expression for journalists, such as provisions prohibiting reporting on subjects that may offend Islam, dishonour the people or weaken Afghanistan’s army.

The Media Law, approved by Presidential Decree in 2005, was endorsed by the Wolesi Jirga at the end of May 2007. The endorsement follows an intense public debate caused by the attempt on the side of the Parliament to bring the state-owned Radio Television of Afghanistan under Government control and private media content to more intense scrutiny and Government control. The law is still to be reviewed by the Meshrano Jirga before receiving Presidential assent.

Curbs on the media with regard to freedom of expression continued to be reported in 2006 and 2007. The head of the state-owned Radio and TV Afghanistan resigned citing pressure from the Minister of Culture and Information to modify broadcasts in favour of Government public information stories. In June 2006, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), issued a directive banning material which may be construed as being against national security interests and/or the presence of international security forces. The directive was strongly criticized by Human Rights Watch and, following protests, was withdrawn. In another incident in April 2007, Afghanistan’s Attorney General raided Tolo Television, one of the country’s most popular stations, on account of alledged misrepresentation of facts in a news item."

Document(s): Open document

12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Independent journalists targeted by anti-government forces for suspicion of cooperating with Afghan or foreign intelligence services ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22648]

"In addition to pressure on journalists by the authorities, a number of violent incidents involving the media have taken place in 2006 and 2007. In May 2006, Ariana TV was attacked in Kabul by violent demonstrators and two German journalists were murdered in Baghlan Province in October 2006. Furthermore, independent journalists are increasingly accused of cooperating with Afghan or foreign intelligence services officials and thus targeted by anti-government forces. An example is the kidnapping of a foreign and an Afghan journalist in March 2007 in the southern province of Helmand. They were initially accused of spying on behalf of international forces. The incidents resulted in the beheading of the Afghan journalist and the liberation of the foreign journalist in exchange for the release of Taliban prisoners."

Document(s): Open document

12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Respect for freedom of expression is limited ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22935]

"Curbs on the media with regard to freedom of expression remain a concern. The debate surrounding the new Media Law highlighted the difficulties in achieving consensus on freedom of the press. There is limited understanding of freedom of expression, which is exacerbated by intimidation resulting from the dominance of strong political and armed factions and weak rule of law."

Document(s): Open document

11.2007 - Source: Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

Independent vibrant media landscape under threat due to conservative elements in the parliament and a short sighted funding policy ("11th European Country of Origin Information Seminar; Vienna, 21 - 22 June 2007; Country Report; Afghanistan") [ID 21957]

"Afghanistan has had one of the most progressive media laws in the region, which has allowed for a vibrant private media to develop in the past-2002 era. A new media law is currently being discussed.

The flowering of an independent media, funded into being by the donors, after the collapse of the Taliban, is probably one of the most important products of the Bonn process. There is a huge appetite for debate in Afghanistan among Afghans. But over the last two years, funding for the media, in terms of media development, has radically decreased. An independent media
landscape at a particularly crucial time is under threat not only politically from highly
conservative elements partly entrenched in the parliament and other parts of the government structures, but also from a short sighted funding policy which anticipated that Afghanistan would be at point B when it hadn’t left point A."

Document(s): Open document

14.09.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Regulations for the mass media concerning the publication of materials (articles, programs etc.) on religions ("International Religious Freedom Report 2007") [ID 21534]

"Article 34 of the Constitution protects freedom of expression and of the press. Amendments to the Afghan Mass Media Law, approved by the Lower House of the Afghan Parliament on May 22, 2007, included both positive and negative changes with respect to religious freedom. In the current version of the draft law, which still has to be approved by the Upper House and signed by President Karzai, Article 45(1) prohibits the publication by the mass media of any materials that are contrary to the "principles and provisions" of the Islamic Religion, and Article 45(2) prohibits the publication by the mass media of materials that are offensive to other religions. Article 45(6) states that the mass media shall be prohibited from printing, airing, broadcasting, or otherwise disseminating materials (articles, programs, etc.) that publicize or promote any religion other than Islam. This formalizes in Afghanistan's written law a prohibition on the use of mass media to attempt to convert others to religions (other than Islam). Regardless, any attempt to convert a Muslim to another religion is already illegal in Afghanistan under Islamic law, whether through the mass media or otherwise."

Document(s): Open document

23.05.2007 - Source: Amnesty International

Freedom of expression is well respected, although there were attempts to limit it ("Annual Report 2007") [ID 20285]

"Freedom of expression was reasonably well respected, although there were attempts to limit it. The NSD sought to ban open discussion of the security situation and the Speaker of Parliament proposed limiting parliamentarians' freedom to speak to the press. Abdul Rahman was arrested in February and threatened with the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity more than 15 years previously, while working in Peshawar, Pakistan. In March, under heavy pressure from foreign governments, the court returned his case to prosecutors, citing "investigative gaps" and he was released from prison. He fled to Italy and was granted asylum."

Document(s): Open document

07.05.2007 - Source: New York Times

Government is moving to curb the country's independent news media ("Afghan Media Face Threat of Controls") [ID 20275]

Document(s): Open document

24.04.2007 - Source: Aljazeera

New law may reduce independence of the country's media [ID 19960]

Document(s): Open document

26.11.2004 - Source: UN General Assembly

Report focused on political developments, security situation (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, police and justice reform) human rights situation, health and nutrition, voluntary repatriation and reintegration ("Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security - Emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan A/59/581 S/2004/925") [#27496],  [ID 1437]

"57. Since the Bonn process began, the number of media outlets has expanded significantly. There are now 42 radio stations (25 non-State-run), 18 television stations (14 State-controlled) and some 300 print publications (daily, weekly and monthly). The quality of these media, particularly print publications, is very uneven. The sustainability of all media outlets is not guaranteed. Many non-State-run publications depend on grants, as the Afghan media market is not yet strong enough to allow outlets to sustain themselves on advertisements, and many consumers can purchase publications only at subsidized prices. International support for Stateowned Radio-Television Afghanistan has resulted in the provision of new equipment, new studios and satellite facilities. UNAMA has been assisting with programme production and capacity-building as a means to supplement the efforts of other organizations.
58. The Government this year adopted a new media law that prohibits censoring or limiting mass media and affirms the rights to freedom of thought, speech and information. It also provides legal protection to journalists to exercise their profession and to protect their sources."

Document(s): Open document

14.12.2003 - Source: BBC News

Profile of the Afghan press: while print runs are comparatively small, there is considerable freedom of expression ("Profile of the Afghan press") [#18193],  [ID 1438]

Document(s): Open document

01.10.2003 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Supreme court has issued a fatwa against Mahdavi, editor-in-chief of Aftab newspaper, and his deputy, Ali Raza Payam, who were jailed in June after being accused of blasphemy ("Blasphemy Editor Unrepentant") [#16508],  [ID 1439]

Document(s): Open document

25.06.2003 - Source: Committee to Protect Journalists

2 journalists arrested after publishing an article entitled "Holy Fascism," which was deemed "an offense to Islam" by Afghanistan's Supreme Court, released from prison ("Afghanistan: Imprisoned journalists released") [#13771],  [ID 1440]

Document(s): Open document

12.06.2003 - Source: International Crisis Group

In some parts of the country no indigenous fora for debate and self-determination remain ("Afghanistan's Flawed Constitutional Process") [#13492],  [ID 1441]

"Thus, in some parts of the country, no indigenous fora for debate and self-determination remain. The influence of local commanders in constitutional debates is highlighted by the case of Marya Sazabor, a Mazar-i Sharif-based poet who published an article entitled "The Role of Women in the Constitution" in the newspaper of the Junbish-e Melli Islami. Due to a typographical error, one sentence that should have read "ignorance of Sharia causes women's problems" was printed as "Sharia causes women's problems". A local paper affiliated with Jamiat-i Islami-yi Afghanistan subsequently intimated that she deserved death, calling her "Afghanistan's Salman Rushdie". After a correction by the original publisher and the intervention of UN staff, the threats were retracted."

Document(s): Open document

31.03.2003 - Source: Committee to Protect Journalists

Report documenting attacks on the press in 2002 ("Attacks on the press in 2002") [#11724],  [ID 1443]

Document(s): Open document

28.01.2003 - Source: International Crisis Group

Press law ("Afghanistan: Judicial Reform and Transitional Justice") [#10512],  [ID 1444]

"The Transitional Administration hosted in early September 2002 an International Seminar on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media in Afghanistan. On its final day, the Deputy Minister of Information and Culture, Abdul Hamid Mobarez, endorsed a declaration that recommended including the right of free speech and free media in the new constitution and initiating: thorough and time-bound review of the legal system ... with the goals of creating laws and procedures that promote freedom of expression, protecting the rights of journalists, and guaranteeing their freedom to do their work in safety, including publishing critical reports and opinions ... [and] suspend[ing] immediately licensing provisions for publications as required by the February 2002 Press Law.
As of December 2002, however, the legal review and the revision of the press law had not yet been initiated."

Document(s): Open document
02430afgh.pdf

21.01.2003 - Source: Guardian

Senior judge outlawed cable television, saying it was against Islam ("Afghan judge outlaws 'immoral and smutty' cable television") [#12294],  [ID 1445]

Document(s): Open document

11.11.2002 - Source: Reporters Sans Frontières

RSF: In certain regions almost all the news media controlled by warlords ("Press freedom a year after the fall of the Taliban") [#9588],  [ID 1447]

"One year after the flight of the Taliban from Kabul, 150 publications are being sold on the streets of the city. Electronic media projects are springing up and dozens of journalists are taking advantage of the various forms of training established by international organisations. The change is radical. After five years of Taliban domination, which had turned Afghanistan into "a country without news or pictures" (according to a Reporters Without Borders report in September 2000), the Afghan press today enjoys "unprecedented freedom," says editor Fahim Dashty of Kabul Weekly, the first privately-owned newspaper to reappear after the Taliban departure.

But this freedom has been achieved in the face of attempts to impose control on the part of the new government, which for the most part has its origins in the Northern Alliance. Furthermore, the situation of press freedom is still fraught in certain provinces such as Herat, where governors and warlords control almost all the news media and sometimes use force to muzzle journalists who criticise their power. The central government seems for the most part unable to stop these abuses, which have rarely been denounced by the United Nations."

Document(s): Open document

03.09.2002 - Source: BBC News

Karzai supports independent media ("Karzai supports independent media") [#30466],  [ID 1448]

"The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has said the country's state-run media should not become a propaganda tool for military or political factions, nor cover up Afghanistan's problems.
In a message delivered in Kabul to a conference on the promotion of an independent media, Mr Karzai said his administration supported a free, independent and public service media which would reflect the realities of society and help strengthen democracy and accountable government.
A number of international media organisations are taking part in the Afghan conference including the BBC."

Document(s): Open document

25.07.2002 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

IWPR: Restrictions on press freedom in Herat, harassment of journalists ("Khan Stifles Local Press") [#8311],  [ID 1449]

"The city's main daily newspaper is owned and funded by Khan, local journalists complain of being harassed and officials say they are not aware of a new press law recently passed by the transitional administration in Kabul to bolster freedom of expression.
"After the defeat of the Taleban, Herat's broad-minded society was expecting the rise of new and independent publications which could express the views and problems of the people. This hasn't happened yet," said city journalist Hasan Zada.
[…]
Abdul Zahir Maihanyar, deputy minister of culture and information, told IWPR that continual efforts were being made to improve the city's main newspaper Ittefaq-e-Islam, a weekly that has recently upgraded to a daily. However, as Khan's government finances the publication, every issue faithfully reflects the official line on all events.
Khan's is not the only newspaper in Herat. There are three other local print publications - Awrang-e Hashtum and Kodak, Herat Writers' Association newsletters, and Takhasus, published by the independent Professional Shura Association. However, they do not deal with current affairs or seek to provide impartial political coverage. Aurang-e Hashtom concentrates on educational issues, Kodak is for children, and Takhasos deals with internal organisational issues.
[…] Abdel Hadi Fayeq, who works at the local office of the ministry of culture and information, said journalists had approached his department seeking permission to launch other publications. However, the ministry has not given the go-ahead for these projects because it was not aware of a new media law - which states that newspapers can be published freely without supervision or a license - issued in Kabul earlier this year.
In interviews, Khan has repeatedly stated that anyone is free to write whatever they like, but in practice the writers and journalists who might launch new titles simply do not believe him."

Document(s): Open document

17.07.2002 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

IWPR: Medial legislation fails to curb politicians' control on broadcasting media ("New Bid to Reform Media") [#8312],  [ID 1450]

"[…] the fact that over 70 per cent of the population is illiterate and there is no such thing as a genuinely national newspaper means that the real battleground for freedom of expression in Afghanistan is taking place in television and radio, which remain vulnerable to political interference.
Although a media law, passed in January, enabled the creation of independent electronic media, it failed to set out any protocols or codes to ensure the independence or impartiality of existing channels, most notably the state broadcaster.
Under the Taleban, television was banned and radio became little more than a tool for propaganda and the announcement of government decrees. Broadcasters have therefore had to start again from scratch since the overthrow of the student militia. Recently, a special commission for the media - which will include journalists and civic representatives along with government officials - has been set up. And in September, the ministry of information will host a conference at which UNESCO, BBC representatives and the state Bakhtar Information Agency will be among those who will attempt to establish a public service charter for the state media, along the lines of the BBC charter.
In the meantime, Afghan television and radio still reflects the fact that many of the older journalists learned their trade under the dictatorial regimes of Mohammed Daoud in the 1970s, followed by the Soviet occupation of the country in the 1980s. The broadcasts are reminiscent of former eastern bloc television, covering the president's activities in painstaking detail.
[…] "Some ministers send through their speeches and announcements with orders to 'broadcast without any changes', " said Bakhtar director Sultan Ahmed Baheen. "Many journalists have been threatened in this way, which is a major obstacle to the independence of the media".
[…]The notion of editorial and political independence in broadcasting is as an anathema to many in the government, whose so-called "power ministries" such as the ministry of defence, intervene wherever possible. "Political parties still exert pressure on the media, but we hope that will slowly subside, as in other Islamic countries," said Kiramuddin Haidari, coordinator of state TV's music department.
However, the sacking of Abdel Hafiz Mansour as president of the national broadcaster showed that ministers still have much to learn about the concept of editorial independence. Politically close to the Northern Alliance, Mansour headed Bakhtar in the 1990s, during the presidency of Burhanuddin Rabbani. When the Taleban government first fell last November he was briefly minister of information, but became head of television and radio after the Bonn conference.
For six months, Mansour argued constantly with Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, his successor at the information ministry. When a reporter from Afghan television asked the president of Pakistan, Parwez Musharraf, a question about the highly sensitive border between the two countries, the minister ordered Mansour to fire him. Mansour responded by sending the journalist to cover an official visit to Europe by Karzai.
After the Loya Jirga, Makhdoum sacked the broadcasting chief. Rejecting his dismissal, Mansour repeatedly attempted to enter the television building with a posse of armed guards, finally giving up after a week.
His successor, Mohammed Ishaq, is even more closely connected to the powerful Northern Alliance. Ishaq served as an advisor to the coalition's commander Ahmed Shah Massood and commentators say he is close to another of its leading figures, the minister of defence and vice-president Mohammad Fahim, "He could not have been appointed to this job without approval from the senior figures in the Northern Alliance now in the government," said one industry insider.
It is this kind of political control that the September conference will attempt to address. The event will attempt to establish an independent broadcast authority to regulate the state-run network and to allocate frequencies to private radio and TV stations. But measures such as these need to be accompanied by a more assertive attitude from individual journalists themselves, according to Bakhtar's Sultan Ahmed Baheen. "Decrees and protocols are useless on their own," he said. "Journalists need to express their own independence and they must expose anyone who tries to interfere with that."

Document(s): Open document

17.07.2002 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

IWPR: Media in provinces controlled by local warlords ("New Bid to Reform Media") [#8312],  [ID 1451]

"In the provinces beyond Kabul, senior officials openly admit broadcasters are tightly controlled by regional leaders. Kandahar has a nightly programme lasting two hours, but it is totally dominated by the activities of governor Ghul Ahmed Sherzai. The finances of the station are run through an account controlled by Sherzai, according to local journalists.
In Mazar-e-Sharif, viewers are subjected to the daily activities of not one, but three competing local leaders - General Abdel Rashid Dostum, Ustad Atta and Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq - who each film their meetings with international organisations and diplomats, then send the tapes to the local TV station, which duly broadcasts them."

Document(s): Open document

11.07.2002 - Source: UN Security Council

UN Secretary-General: Press law decree ("The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security [A/56/1000–S/2002/737]") [#49253],  [ID 1452]

"17. With regard to freedom of the press, after the issuance in February 2002 of a “press law decree” that elicited much criticism for its prescriptive nature, the Ministry of Information and Culture issued a statement on the reconstruction and development of media in Afghanistan. The statement announced a thorough review of media policy based on the recognition of the role of the press as a major factor of transparency and accountability in Afghanistan."

Document(s): Open document

22.04.2002 - Source: BBC News

Popular Western and Indian music, movie and sports channels resume broadcasting after government passes law allowing them to go on air ("Cable TV returns to Kabul") [#12304],  [ID 1442]

Document(s): Open document

18.03.2002 - Source: UN Security Council

UN Secretary-General: Framework for the press and radio and television broadcasting ("The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security S/2002/278") [#6057],  [ID 1453]

"The Interim Administration has passed four major decrees since its inauguration on 22 December. […]The third decree set out a framework for the press and radio and television broadcasting, including principles for freedom of the press and procedures for licensing of the press by the Minister of Information and Culture."

Document(s): 02216afgh.pdf