Journalists Kept Out of Polls

During Afghanistan's first direct presidential election on October 9, the rules were clear: accredited journalists would be allowed to observe the ballot process. But in some cases, Afghan reporters were barred entry to voting centres.

In Wasel Abad, southwest of Kabul, an accredited IWPR reporter, Wahidullah Amani, was not allowed to enter a polling station located in the Lagaari mosque.

"Muhammad Shafi, supervisor for the ballot station, said, 'Let him enter’," recalled Amani. "But one of the police officers doing security at the ballot station said, 'we are under orders from the chief of the seventh [police] district only to allow political party observers in, not journalists.'"

IWPR discussed the problem with the seventh district supervisor, who confirmed the order barring journalists from entering the ballot stations.

The police official who asked not to be named said, "A representative of security headquarters told us to stop journalists from entering the polling stations."

Muhammad Daud Dadras, a reporter for the Hindu Kush News Agency, was also accredited to enter polling stations. He wanted to report from the polling station, located in Kabul's Kart-e-Se Mustaghni High School, but was denied access.

According to Dadras, a security officer told him, "Security headquarters ordered us not to allow journalists."

In addition to those incidents in Kabul, some journalists in the provinces were also prevented from entering polling stations.

Shirin Pashtunaqa Sherzad, a reporter for Kilid Media Group, was not allowed to enter a polling station at the Teacher Training Academy in Jalalabad. Sherzad said that security personnel kept him and another reporter waiting outside the door.

One of the solders said they were under orders to keep journalists out.

Mohammad Zia Bomia, a founding member of a new union of independent journalists in Afghanistan, condemned the actions, calling them a violation of freedom of speech.

"I was an eyewitness to this problem," he said. "The security forces didn't permit [some] journalists to reach the election centres."

Bomia added that his group would file a complaint about this with interim President Hamed Karzai, Afghanistan's human-rights commission, the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, UNAMA, and international officials.

Lutfullah Mashhal, spokesman for Afghanistan's interior ministry, said conflicting orders may have caused the confusion. But he said that journalists had only been denied access to a limited number of centres.

Originally, he said, the ministry had ruled that only voters would be allowed in polling centres, in order to streamline the voting process.

"Not permitting individuals other than voters in the election centres was one of the rules," he said.

However, he added, "After that, we issued another order allowing journalists as well as domestic and international observers into polling centres to monitor the election process and do their reports.

“But since we were not able to get the message out to all the polling centres in time, in some places soldiers thought that journalists were barred from election centres. It happened in just four and five places, but in other centres, the journalists went in and were able to report on election day."

Qutbuddin Qayim, a member of the media commission for the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body, JEMB, said miscommunications seemed to be the cause of the problems.

"This action [restricting journalists' access] was against our orders and we will support journalists if they file a complaint," he said.

Sayed Azam, spokesman for the JEMB, concurred, saying, "There wasn't any obstacle [to free and fair elections] from our side; all the problems were from the security forces."

Thus far, no journalists have formally complained. According to Abdul Hamid Mubarez, deputy minister of information and culture, "The ministry has not received any complaints yet."

Mohammad Jawad Sharifzada is a freelance reporter for IWPR in Kabul.