Kabu: Two Afghan journalists were left with used and bad bruises after being beaten and detained for hours by Taliban fighters because they covered protests in the Afghan capital.
The couple was picked up at the demonstration on Wednesday and was taken to the police station in the capital, where they said they were punched and beaten with sticks, electrical cables and whip after being accused of arranging protests.
“One of the Taliban put his legs in my head, destroying my face against concrete.
They kicked me …
I thought they would kill me,” said the photographer Namatullah Naqdi told AFP.
Although the promises of a more inclusive regime, the Taliban had moved to breathe the opposition to mushroom against their government.
On Wednesday night they expressed illegal demonstrations unless permission was given by the Ministry of Justice.
Naqdi and his Taqi Daryabi, a reporter, who works for ethiliat Roz (every day) has been assigned to cover small protests in front of a police station in Kabul by women who demand the right to work and education.
Naqdi said he was faced by a Taliban fighters as soon as he began to take pictures.
“They told me ‘you can’t film’,” he said.
“They arrested everyone who was filming and took their phone,” he told AFP.
Naqdi said the Taliban tried to reach his camera, but he managed to hand it to someone in the crowd.
Three Taliban fighters arrested him, and took him to the police station the beating place began.
Taliban officials have not responded to repeated requests for comments from AFP.
“The Taliban began to insulted me, save me,” Naqdi said, adding that he was accused of being a rally organizer.
He asked why he was beaten, just to be told: “You’re lucky you’re not beheaded”.
Naqdi was finally taken to a crowded cell where he found his colleague, Daryabi, who had also been arrested and beaten.
“We are very sick so we can’t move,” Daryabi said.
A few hours later the couple was released without explanation – sent on the way with a series of insults.
“They see us as an enemy,” Taqi said.
Taliban have claimed that they will uphold the freedom of the press – in line with the principles of Islam that is not determined – even though journalists are increasingly harassed to cover protests throughout the country.
In the past few days, dozens of journalists have reported being beaten, detained or prevented to cover protests, an unthinkable resistance show under the last Taliban regime in the 1990s.
Most are Afghan journalists, who harass the Taliban more than foreign media.
Protests prove the initial test for the Taliban, which after taking power on August 15 promised a more tolerant government and worked for the “peace and prosperity of the state”.
Zaki Daryabi, Head of the Eticaat Roz newspaper, said Taliban’s words rang.
“This official speech is completely different from the reality that can be observed on the ground,” he told AFP.