A Taliban court has sentenced a Daikundi radio chief to a year in prison for broadcasting content that was critical of the Taliban.
Nasim Radio head Sultan Ali Jawadi was sentenced this week for “spreading news of moral and administrative corruption of the Taliban, cooperating with foreign journalists and media, rebelling against the government of the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban), and spying for foreigners,” a local source, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, told Rukhshana Media.
Mr Jawadi was transferred from the Taliban intelligence detention to the main prison in Daikundi province on Tuesday December 12, the source said.
Another source, who attended the sentencing, said the Taliban judge expressed to Mr Jawadi he was lucky he was only getting a year in prison.
“The Taliban judge told Mr Jawadi ‘I have done a great favor to you – if I didn’t sentence you to one-year imprisonment and I set you free, you would have been killed’,” the source said.
Taliban forces arrested Mr Jawadi and two of his colleagues on October 9.
The two other staff Saifullah Rezayi and Mujtaba Qasemi were detained in prison for two weeks and allegedly beaten.
The Taliban had initially arrested the trip on September 27 after a raid on the office of Nasim Radio.
On that occasion, the three journalists were released the same day, but their mobile phones were confiscated.
The Nasim Radio office was locked and its radio equipment was seized.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the group has put increasing pressure on media outlets to not publish stories critical of its administration.
Taliban use detention, abuse, and threats to ensure media outlets and journalists comply.
