CPJ condemns Taliban curbs on journalists

NEW YORK, SEPT. 15. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the harassment of journalists covering the trial of the eight foreign aid workers whom the ruling Taliban militia accuses of preaching Christianity.

``Reporters serve a crucial role as witnesses,'' said the CPJ executive director, Ms. Ann Cooper. ``If this trial is to have any international credibility, journalists must be permitted to cover all proceedings without interference.''

The foreigners - two Americans, two Australians, and four Germans - were arrested in early August along with 16 Afghan colleagues from the German-based charity, Shelter Now International. In July, the Taliban announced that the penalty for a foreigner for proselytizing was jail and expulsion. Afghans who preach or convert to a religion other than Islam face the death penalty.

The trial of the aid workers began on Sept. 4. Though the Taliban Foreign Minister, Mr. Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, had initially promised that the trial would take place in an open court, he later clarified that journalists, diplomats, and other outside observers would be admitted only during the ``second phase'' of the proceedings.

As it turned out, journalists were allowed to cover the trial on Sept. 8, when the aid workers appeared for the first time since their arrest, but were prevented from returning the next day.

On Sept. 9, authorities barred journalists from leaving Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel, and searched some of their rooms for cameras, pictures and videotapes. Taliban officials said they took action against the journalists for illegally photographing and videotaping the detainees. The Taliban officially forbids all forms of photography on religious grounds, but relaxes these rules during major news events.

Authorities also briefly detained the Government interpreters who were accompanying the journalists, apparently because they did not prevent the mediapersons from taking pictures, according to international wire service reports. A Foreign Ministry spokesman denied that the interpreters had been detained, claiming they were attending a seminar, according to Agence France-Presse.

Foreign correspondents and photographers covering the aid workers' trial have been required to stay at the hotel and travel in the company of an official interpreter.

In an unrelated incident, the CPJ said it was disturbed by reports that two men had posed themselves as journalists in an attempt to assassinate Mr. Ahmed Shah Masood, military leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

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Section  : International
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