The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) said Thursday that journalist Mahdi Ansari has been released after spending about 18 months in Taliban detention.
Ansari, a reporter for Afghan News Agency in Kabul, was freed Wednesday evening from Bagram prison and reunited with his family, the AFJC said, citing a source in the capital.
The organization said Ansari’s fundamental rights were “seriously violated,” adding that he had been prosecuted and imprisoned on charges of cooperating with exiled and foreign media outlets.
Ansari disappeared on Oct. 5, 2024, after leaving his workplace in the Pul-e-Sokhta area of Kabul. His family later confirmed that he had been detained by Taliban intelligence.
On Jan. 1, 2025, a Taliban primary court in Kabul sentenced him to one and a half years in prison on charges of “propaganda” against the Taliban, the AFJC said.
About a year after his arrest, Taliban intelligence released a video of what Taliban described as Ansari’s confession, accusing him of spreading “poisonous propaganda” and collaborating with “biased foreign media,” according to the AFJC.
The organization said Ansari was denied access to an independent defense lawyer and described the trial as unfair.
According to data from the AFJC’s media freedom tracker, at least 21 journalists and media workers were detained in Afghanistan in the past year.
The group said that despite Ansari’s release, at least four journalists and media workers remain in Taliban custody.
The AFJC called on Taliban to end pressure on independent media and to release all detained journalists.
