SAMANGAN, Afghanistan — Afghan Journalists Center reported the Taliban’s arrest of Saifullah Karimi, a Pajhwok news agency reporter, in Samangan province. Karimi was taken into custody following a summons to the Taliban governor’s office in the province, the organization said.
According to the center, Karimi was called to the office at around 10 a.m. yesterday, with no information regarding his whereabouts or condition since then.
The announcement detailed an incident 10 days prior, when Karimi sought to interview Bashir Ahmad Nomani, the provincial Mustofi, about local restaurant and hotel owners’ protests against tax increases. After Nomani declined the interview, the matter was referred to Abdul Ahad Fazli, the Taliban governor, who subsequently summoned Karimi, the center said.
In 2023, the Afghanistan Journalists Center documented 168 instances of journalists’ rights violations in Afghanistan. This figure includes 61 arrests of journalists and media workers, with two currently imprisoned. Aminullah Alami, lmanager of Mumtaz Radio in Faryab, was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment for what local officials termed “a non-media and personal issue.” Additionally, Sultan Ali Javadi, manager of Nasim Radio in Daikundi province and a multiple-time detainee by intelligence forces, received a one-year prison sentence on Dec. 11 last year, the center said.
