A Taliban government spokesman had said on Thursday, April 17, that two Afghan television channels have been taken off the airwaves on the grounds of “violations against Islamic and national values.”
Human rights monitors have warned that Taliban authorities have been cracking down on media freedoms since they returned to power in 2021, in an attempt to enforce an unrelenting vision of Islamist rule.
The Ministry of Information and Culture spokesman, Khubaib Ghufran had announced that the “Barya” and “Noor” TV channels had been suspended on Tuesday for their failure to abide by “journalistic principles”.
In his words,
“They had programs creating confusion among the public and their owners are abroad. The media violation commission suspended their operations.”Ghufran had also said that the owners had “even taken stands as opponents” of the Taliban government and “until their owners come here, and answer the questions posed to them, their operations will be suspended”.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) had in a statement said that Afghanistan’s media commission had continually warned “Barya” for airing statements by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a formerly-powerful warlord and ex-prime minister, about the Taliban government.
The AFJC had also said that “Noor” had received warnings because it aired music and the uncovered faces of female presenters.
