The fact that journalists in Afghanistan work under extremely difficult circumstances is well-established. The problems faced by them range from violence, threats, intimidation to harassment and hurdles that prevent them from carrying out their work. The perpetrators vary: government officials, members of the security apparatus, political figures, war lords, extra-constitutional authorities, armed militias and hostile groups.

While some of the incidents are publicized and documented by international bodies working for the protection of media, the majority of incidents go unreported. Not only is the international community unaware of them, but even journalists are often uninformed about what is happening to their colleagues.

The reasons for this are fairly straightforward- the absence of adequate communication, the difficulties of investigation and the fear of repercussions prevent the documentation of most instances. Many journalists, especially in the provinces, regard it as a way of life, concomitant with their profession. For the various vested interests which are challenged by the media, journalists are fair game in a context where institutional structures of protection are still in a nascent stage.

This occasional newsletter is a small step towards breaking that culture of acceptance, both within media and also those who perpetrate the violence. It will document all available information about incidents of harassment, violence and intimidation of media as and when they take place.

This is going to be difficult, both because of the limitation of resources and because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Most cases are underreported because the media is currently very uncomfortable with the idea of sharing any information in the public domain in case such reporting leads to further harassment. We are completely sympathetic to this apprehension and sensitive to the possible repercussions of insensitive reporting. Therefore while reporting on the incidents we would like to make sure that the journalist/media organization is completely comfortable about the idea. This will sometimes mean disguising or omitting specific details, omitting the names not only of the victims but also of those charged with the harassment. This may lead to some degree of imprecision initially but we hope that greater confidence and better protection mechanisms will gradually overcome any need for ambiguity. However as can be seen from the list of incidents we have in our first newsletter, there could be many ways to report on such incidents different from case to case.

We would encourage media organizations, media NGOs, individual journalists to share their experiences with us with the assurance that they have the final say on exactly what will go into print, a practice we have followed in each of the cases reported in this newsletter.

We also encourage non-media practitioners to share any information they have, as each case will be followed up and published only with the concurrence of the affected parties except where the information is well-established and in the public domain.(for eg an arrest, legal charge, etc.)

The four cases reported here are very different in tenor. While three of them involve incidents of intimidation by different authorities, they have all had different fallouts. While in the first case, in Herat, IMPACS entered into negotiations, in Qarabagh it was the local shoura which supported the Radio Station. In the case of Salaam Watandaar the authorities appear to have backed off after the firm stand taken by the broadcaster. The fourth incident, involving Killed, is an example of the continuous harassment and intimidation of the media. The fact that it is emanating from unknown sources for unspecified reasons makes it nonetheless effective, leaving journalists in a state of considerable unease and uncertainty about their work. We would like to thank all those who have shared information with us.

Local authorities try to exert control over IMPACS radio station in Herat

According to the international NGO IMPACS, in May 2004, authorities in Herat interfered in the functioning of Radio Sahar, a women’s independent community radio station in Herat, supported by IMPACS and Internews. IMPACS says:

“Various armed guards were placed in the station for five days, from Monday, June 7th until Friday, June 11th. When the IMPACS team entered the station on Tues, May 8th, and asked the armed guard to leave the station, he replied that he had been placed there by Herat Governor Ismael Khan to ensure the safety of the station and the equipment and was unable to leave without receiving permission from his superiors. The IMPACS team then negotiated with a variety of representatives from the police and local authorities in an attempt to resolve the situation and to ensure the armed guards would be removed.

It is noteworthy that when IMPACS Project Director Jane McElhone attempted to enter the station compound on Wed, June 9th (by placing one foot into the compound after the guard answered the door), the guard told her that if she took one more step, he would kill her. This threat was repeated several times. The guard was not carrying a gun but the IMPACS team could see his AK-47 lying behind him in the guards’ hut.

Following this incident, the IMPACS team continued negotiating with all, concerned parties and were able to re-enter the compound on Friday, June 11th. At that point, they were successful in removing the final armed guard from the station. Since that date, IMPACS and Internews have been working in the station.

The IMPACS team met with Governor Ismael Khan on Wed, June 23rd in an attempt to resolve the situation. Although it is difficult to determine the exact motivation behind the authorities’ actions, IMPACS believes that the authorities were attempting to exert control over the internal functioning of the station, including staffing issues, and to demonstrate their power. The efforts to exert control also included pressure and threats against one of the women journalists working at the station."

The right of investigation and sanctity of sources: Salaam Watandar

On Tuesday August 3, a journalist from Salaam Watandar, a radio programming arm of Internews, went to meet the head of the Press Centre in the Ministry of Information and Culture to follow-up a tip-off. Sources had told the journalist that there may have been an explosive device in the centre which was detonated by the security forces the previous day.

Within 90 minutes of the journalist’s visit to the ministry, armed police had surrounded the Internews building where the Salaam Watandar office is located.

While twelve armed policemen waited outside, five policemen went to the Salaam Watandar office, one in uniform and four plainclothes men. While one was from the central police headquarters, two others were from the district police station and the remaining two from the criminal research unit of the police.
They asked for one particular journalist, who, they said they had been told, had the initial tip-off, claiming that the visit of the Salaam Watandar journalist had forced the police to go to the Ministry to carry out searches. The Managing Editor of Salaam Watandar, Mirwais Social, however insisted that as the head of the radio station he had the full responsibility and that they should talk to him. He refused to talk to them until they had brought a court official with them. Once they had brought a court official he agreed to talk to them in order to be helpful.

The police officials accompanied by the court official sought to know the source that had provided the tip-off to the journalist. They were repeatedly told that they had no right to ask for the name of the source as it was a journalist’s professional right to keep this a secret. However the district police told Social that his refusal to provide the information was a sign of his own involvement in the incident. Social said that of those present only one policeman seemed to understand this concept of the journalist’s right not to disclose his source and the questioning went on for two hours.
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The next day two policemen from the district police came to the Salaam Watandar office and asked for a list of all staff members, claiming this was a security requirement. They were not provided with this information. “What is clear is we are not giving our names to anyone” Social said adding “if we feel pressurized we will go on air with the details.”

High-handed authorities fail to pressurize radio station: Radio Qara Bagh

Broadcasting even a listener’s letter can be a sticky business as Radio Qarabagh discovered in May this year. Kabul Mayor Rashid’s long speech on the martyrs of the Jehad on the occasion of teacher’s day led to a flurry of letters of complaint from students and teachers who felt the occasion was misused.

The letters were broadcast directly on the radio, resulting in a visit from the mayor who accused the radio station of being irresponsible. When told that the station was merely broadcasting the listener’s complaints which were not of his making, the mayor demanded to see all such letters prior to every broadcast. The radio station refused to do this asserting its independence. The mayor took the issues before the local shoura and complained that the radio station, influenced by western values, especially the US, was broadcasting anti-government anti-mujahid ideas.

The radio station replied asking for any example where it had broadcast anything not in accordance with the tenets of the government policy, or against Islam or the culture and tradition of Afghanistan. The shoura rejected the mayor’s contention and held that the radio station was in the right.

Anonymous threats: Killed Media Group

General unspecified threats are also a common occurrence in media organizations.
Through letters, phone calls and visits through intermediaries, journalists and their organizations are often warned by those who are hostile to a certain style of reporting or the contents of some reports. While these threats may not be linked to specific reports, they do act as a point of pressure on journalists.

The Killed Media Group, for example, recently received several warning letters stating that activities of Killed were being monitored. While the group has no idea about the source of the letters, these letters stated that some of the reporting done by Killed was not to the liking of these persons. Subsequently the warnings stopped of their own accord, leaving the group none the wiser about what was being objected to.

For any queries or information please contact:
Aunohita Mojumdar ,Media Monitor, Internews
Haji Mir Ahmed, Baharistan
Karti Parvan
Kabul
Phone: 079 33 4984 and 070 2345 40
Email: aunohita.mojumdar@internews.org or afghanmedia@internews.org

Note: To maintain the confidentiality and to protect sources it was not possible for Internews to corroborate the incidents by carrying out additional investigations. None of the material herein may be reproduced without permission from Internews.

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