Taliban, at it again, and again

[Valkie]

Taliban beat journalists covering protest

Neamat Naqdi.

TWO Afghan journalists were left with ugly welts and bruises after being beaten and detained for hours by Taliban enforcers for covering a protest in the Afghan capital.

The pair were picked up at a demonstration on Wednesday and taken to a police station in the capital, where they say they were punched and beaten with batons, electrical cables and whips after being accused of organising the protest.

“One of the Taliban put his foot on my head, crushed my face against the concrete. They kicked me in the head … I thought they were going to kill me,” photographer Nematullah Naqdi said.

Despite promises of a more inclusive regime, the Taliban have moved to snuff out mushrooming opposition against their rule.

On Wednesday night they declared demonstrations illegal unless permission had been granted by the justice ministry. Naqdi and his colleague Taqi Daryabi, a reporter, who both work for Etilaat Roz (Information Daily) had been assigned to cover a small protest in front of a police station in Kabul by women demanding the right to work and education.

Naqdi said he was accosted by a Taliban fighter as soon as he started taking pictures.

“They told me ‘You cannot film’,” he said. “They arrested all those who were filming and took their phones,” he said.

Naqdi said the Taliban tried to grab his camera, but he managed to hand it to someone in the crowd. Three Taliban fighters caught him, however, and took him to the police station where the beatings started.

‘They see us as enemies. We were in so much pain that we couldn’t move. They see us as enemies,” Daryabi said. A few hours later the pair were released without explanation.