Journalists Under Attack in the North

The Institute for War & Peace Reporting is greatly concerned by attacks on a leading Afghan reporter and his brother in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif - including a threat of execution - which appear to indicate increasing pressure against critical journalism in the country.



Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi, one of the leading independent journalists in northern Afghanistan, has recently experienced significant harassment from the Afghan security services, including searches of his home and office, accessing of his computer files, and efforts to compel him to reveal sources on several stories.



Yaqub has written extensively on alleged human right abuses by political and paramilitary factions in northern Afghanistan, including numerous articles for IWPR. He believes that he has been put under pressure to force him to stop covering such sensitive subjects.



“I have repeatedly been threatened during my work with IWPR,” said Yaqub, “and recently the pressure has increased.”



On October 27, Ibrahimi’s brother, Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, was arrested for allegedly distributing “anti-Islamic” literature.



The charges against Parwez, a journalism student at Balkh University who reports for the local daily Jahan-e-Naw, are based on a document downloaded from the internet in mid-October and circulated among students at the university.



Parwez, who has no previous record of trouble with the authorities, denies any involvement in the text and says his name was added to the document after it was printed off the internet. He remains in jail, under threat of severe punishment.



Zia Bomya, chair of the Journalists’ Defense Committee in Kabul, Zia Bomya, believes that the groups whose interests were being threatened by Yaqub’s work have initiated a conspiracy against his brother, Parwez, landing the one in jail to increase pressure on the other.



Significantly, Parwez’s case will not be heard by a judge in court but has instead been referred to the Shura-ye-Ulema, the Council of Religious Scholars, which has recommended execution by hanging on the grounds of apostasy.



Bomya, head of the journalists’ defense committee, says that Parwez’s case should be heard by the media commission, which could then transfer it to judicial authorities if necessary.



“As long as the constitution and the courts exist in Afghanistan, the Shura-ye-Ulema is not authorized to pass sentence on anyone,” he said.



“If this intimidation continues,” said Jean Mackenzie, IWPR Afghanistan Program Director, “it would indicate a frightening new level of attacks on freedom of speech and the media in Afghanistan.”



IWPR urges the Government of Afghanistan, the international media, and local and international human rights groups to investigate the cases of Parwez and Yaqub.