The Afghanistan Journalist Center (AfJC) says a Taliban proposal to issue ID cards to journalists is oppressive and illegal.
“This plan is against the country’s mass media law, which was also approved by the Islamic Emirate,” the AfJC said in a statement.
“And the implementation of such a plan puts the independence of journalists and media into question and provides the basis for more pressure on journalists and extra-legal monitoring of their work.”
Hayatullah Mohajer Farahi, Deputy Minister of the Taliban’s Information and Culture Department, tweeted this week that journalists would be issued identity cards with scannable barcodes. The images would be displayed on the department’s website.
Mr. Farahi said the ID system would not hinder the journalists’ work.
However, the AfJC claimed it would give authorities unwarranted power to pressure and censor media.
“There is no legal provision regarding the need to register journalists and provide a journalist card by the Ministry of Information and Culture or other departments that would be the basis for monitoring their work or for addressing their problems,” the statement says.
The Center emphasized that the Law of Public Media provided specific solutions for regulating public media activities, media evaluation, monitoring the rights and privileges of journalists and other media employees and handling violations of their rights or complaining about their work.
The Taliban has not explained the criteria it would be used to register journalists or how it would find information on their identities.
The ID plan was previously proposed by the Taliban’s acting Minister of Information and Culture, Mullah Khairullah Khairkhah with representatives of Taliban intelligence, Vice and Virtue police and ministries of interior affairs and foreign affairs.
