A female journalist has been detained by Taliban intelligence forces in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, sources close to her family said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nazira Rashidi, was arrested on December 30 after leaving her home in Kunduz city, a source told Rukhshana Media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The source said Rashidi received a phone call from Taliban intelligence officers and went out to meet them, but did not return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Concerned, her family visited hospitals and Taliban security offices searching for her, then discovered that she had been detained. A source said the arrest was linked to her \u201cmedia activities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rashidi had previously received multiple anonymous threats warning her to stop working as a journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She had worked as a reporter for Uranus TV and Radio Kunduz, though bosses at the broadcasters said she had not been employed there recently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is the mother of two children and the sole breadwinner of her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taliban officials in Kunduz have not commented on the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Afghanistan Media Support Organisation (AMSO) strongly condemned her arrest and called for her immediate and unconditional release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement issued late Saturday, the organisation urged international bodies, free speech organisations and human rights groups to do what they could to stop the ongoing detention and harassment of female journalists in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cArresting, threatening and silencing journalists is a clear violation of freedom of expression and must end immediately,\u201d the organisation said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, media freedom deteriorated sharply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A large number of independent news outlets closed, and many journalists fled the country due to threats, intimidation, and arbitrary detentions. Press freedom rankings dropped, with Afghanistan listed near the bottom of global press freedom indices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Restrictions on women have been particularly severe. Female journalists have been banned from many roles, barred from reporting freely, and in some cases prohibited from broadcasting women\u2019s voices entirely. The number of women working in media has dropped significantly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A female journalist has been detained by Taliban intelligence forces in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz, sources close to her family said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[900,9581],"tags":[2685,6852],"class_list":["post-37285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","category-our-work-en","tag-female-journalist","tag-northern-afghanistan"],"yoast_head":"\n