February 23, 2025
Kabul - Despite a day having passed since the publication of the de facto Ministry of Information and Culture's press release on the issuance of permission to reopen Begum and Jawanan radio stations in Kabul, the offices of these two private radio stations, which were closed three weeks ago, have not yet reopened, and the detained staff of these media outlets have not been released. The Afghanistan Journalists Center welcomes the de facto authorities’ new order to reopen these two radio stations, but condemns forcing them to undertake obligations beyond the media law and continuing to detain the staff of these two media outlets.
The de facto Ministry of Information and Culture announced in a press release on X (formerly Twitter) on February 22, that the Ministry’s Deputy publication affairs “has issued a permit to reopen Begum and Jawanan Radios after repeated requests to reopen them, provided that they conduct their programs based on the principles of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [the Taliban government] and the principles of journalism and refrain from any violations in the future.”
However, on February 23, two sources in Kabul, who wish to remain anonymous for safety reasons, informed AFJC that the offices of Begum and Jawanan Radios have yet to reopen and that the two detained journalists have not been released.
The Begum Radio office was ceased and locked on February 4 by officers of the de facto General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) in direct cooperation with the de facto Ministry of Information and Culture. The de facto Ministry of Information and Culture had said that in addition to “multiple violations,” Begum Radio was producing media content and programs for a television station based abroad, and that the office of this media outlet was closed due to “policy violations” and “abuse” of its work license. On the same day, the office of Radio Jawanan, which operates in a building shared with Radio Begum in the Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul, was closed, and after questioning employees, officers of the GDI confiscated the existing documents, computers, and hard drives of both stations, and arrested a reporter from Radio Begum and a reporter from Radio Jawanan.
Radio Begum and Radio Jawanan are two independent media outlets owned by the same person. Radio Begum was established in Kabul on March 8, 2021, International Women's Day, five months before the Taliban returned to power. Radio Jawanan was established in 2011 and has stated its goal to raise civic awareness and promote dialogue between people and cultures.
AFJC welcomes the order from the de facto Ministry of Information and Culture to reopen the offices of Radio Begum and Radio Jawanan. However, we consider the imposition of additional obligations beyond the Afghanistan media law to be illegal, as it undermines the freedom of these two media outlets. We urge the officials of the de facto Ministry of Information and Culture and the GDI to unconditionally release the two detained journalists, Begum and Jawanan, as soon as possible.
The country’s public media law, which has also been declared enforceable by the de facto Ministry of Information and Culture, states that the media are free to carry out their professional work and that officials should not create restrictions on their work or threaten them.