Taliban detain journalists over report on TV show censoring

An Afghan journalist says that Taliban intelligence men came in the night to arrest three staff of TOLO TV, one of Afghanistan’s largest television stations

Taliban intelligence men came in the night to arrest three staff of TOLO TV, one of Afghanistan’s largest television stations, a channel executive said Friday.

The country's new rulers apparently didn’t like a story the broadcaster aired on their decision to ban foreign drama series from local television, said Khpalwak Sapai, head of TOLONews, who was among the three arrested.

Sapai, and Nafay Khaleeq, the station's legal adviser, were released within hours, but the station presenter, Bahram Aman was still in custody Friday, Sapai told The Associated Press.

The intelligence officials from the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) came shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday to arrest the three. Sapai said the station was still seeking the release of Aman.

Moby Group, the media company that owns TOLO TV, said the detentions were "for publishing Tolo news about banning of the foreign drama series,” a decision made by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The Afghan-owned media company has interests in South and Central Asia as well as the Middle East and Africa.

The arrests were met with international outcry, including broader demands from the U.N. and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) for the country's rulers to stop harassing local journalists and stifling free expression through threats, arrests and intimidation.