27 March 2007
LOCAL JOURNALIST/TRANSLATOR STILL IN CAPTIVITY
Free expression groups worldwide have joined Afghan journalists in demanding the release of the independent journalist and translator who was kidnapped by the Taliban at the same time as a now-freed Italian journalist.
"La Repubblica" reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his driver, Syed Agha, and his translator, Ajmal Naqshbandi, who is also a journalist, were kidnapped on 5 March by the Taliban in Helmand province. Mastrogiacomo was released on 19 March in exchange for five Taliban prisoners. Agha was beheaded a few days after they were abducted, and Naqshbandi is still being held.
According to Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), around 100 relatives and friends of Agha demonstrated outside a hospital in the capital of Helmand, where Mastrogiacomo was staying. They accused the Afghan government of ignoring the Afghan media workers who were also kidnapped. "President Karzai spoke about the Italian yesterday [19 March] but said nothing about the Afghan driver," an uncle of Agha said. "No one tried to get him released." The Taliban have also refused to release Agha's body.
On the same day, Afghan journalists' organisations demonstrated outside the Information Ministry in Kabul to demand Naqskhbandi's release. Naqshbandi worked as a translator and guide for visiting "La Repubblica" journalists for nearly four years, and was a journalist in his own right. The Pajhwok Afghan News agency reported the Taliban were still holding him because they wanted more of their men freed.
RSF and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have joined Afghan journalists' organisations in condemning the way Mastrogiacomo was released and the consequences it could have for journalists in Afghanistan. Rahimullah Samander, the head of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, told Agence France-Presse (AFP): "We fear that journalists will increasingly become targets for the Taliban and al-Qaeda."
CPJ is asking journalists and media organisations to fax or call Afghan diplomatic missions in their country and demand Naqshbandi's release. "We are not asking the government to trade prisoners or money for Ajmal, only that it continue to press for his release and not let his abduction fade from public consciousness," CPJ appealed.
Visit these sites:
- RSF's coverage with updates: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=21217
- CPJ appeal: http://www.cpj.org/protests/07ltrs/asia/afghan23mar07pl.html
- AFP, "Afghanistan admits to Taliban 'prisoner exchange'": http://tinyurl.com/yud43h
- PAJHWOK: http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=33476
(27 March 2007)
RSS