Taliban beat up Afghan journalists for covering women’s protest

Taliban’s claims of protecting women and their rights proved hallow when two Afghanistan journalists, covering women’s protests, were detained and beaten up in Kabul on Tuesday (September 7).

The two journalists, Taqi Daryabi and Nemat Naqdi, work for Kabul-based media group Etilaat-e Roz. The duo wrote about women’s agitation against all-male interim government and Taliban’s atrocities on women and girls, Human Rights Watch reported.

A media report published in Etilaat-e Roz said the Taliban guards allegedly detained Daryabi and Naqdi and took them to a police station in Kabul where they were severely beaten with wires. The duo was released a day later and received treatment in a local hospital.

Zaki Daryabi, editor-in-chief of Etilaat-e Roz, told Sky News: “Two of my colleagues who were detained by Taliban, were beaten for four hours. Under constant and brutal torture of the Taliban, the reporters lost their consciousness four times.”

On the same day, the Taliban detained a Tolonews photojournalist, Wahid Ahmadi, for recording the protest.

Also read: Taliban’s threat: Doval holds talks with top Russian official

A day after Taliban announced an all-male interim government, women in Kabul and Badakhshan took out protest rallies demanding representation for women.

BBC reported that some women were beaten before the protests were dispersed.

The Taliban have promised protection for women in accordance with Islamic law, but women’s rights organisations claim the Taliban cannot fulfill its promise because that would mean retaining women workforce, which is present in all areas of work, including media, judiciary and politics.