CPJ urges Taliban to end media crackdown after two women anchors barred

The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) has urged the Taliban to "immediately" end its crackdown on the country's media after two female anchors were barred from working at a public broadcaster and an incident in which two journalists were beaten in eastern Afghanistan.

Members of the Taliban arrived at Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA) on Sunday – the day they entered Kabul - with a male Taliban official taking the place of Khadija Amin, an RTA anchor, according to news reports.

When Amin returned the next day, she was told by a member of the Taliban who had taken over leadership of the station that she needed to stay at home and that the group would inform her when she could resume her work.

Shabnam Dawran, another RTA presenter, was also denied entry to the outlet, with Taliban members telling her that "the regime had changed" and that she should "go home".

Men were reportedly allowed into the TV station and a Taliban newscaster took Dawran’s place.

The CPJ, which spoke to both women via a messaging app, said that the apparent dismissals showed the Taliban would fail in their commitment to upholding women's rights and a free press.

"Stripping public media of prominent women news presenters is an ominous sign that Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have no intention of living up their promise of respecting women’s rights, in the media or elsewhere," said Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia program director.

He called on the group, which had previously barred women from leaving the house without a male guardian, to allow women anchors "to return to and allow journalists to work safely and without interference."

On Tuesday, Taliban militants beat Babrak Amirzada, a video reporter from the private news agency Pajwok Afghan News, and Mahmood Naeema, camera operator from Ariana News, another independent outlet, as they covered a protest over Afghanistan's national flag in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Amirzada and Naeema said the fighters shoved them to the ground, beat Amirzada Amirzada on his head, hands, chest, feet, and legs, and hit Naeemi on his legs and feet with the bottoms of their rifles.