Afghan Journalists Face Growing Pressure

An Afghan man reads a newspaper on a sidewalk in Kabul, Afghanistan Tuesday, March. 27, 2007. Journalists say that after bad press about corruption and war crimes surfaced over the past year, Afghanistan's fledgling democracy scrambled to stem the criticism by undemocratically tightening its grip on the press. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq) (Musadeq Sadeq - AP)

"The government was not happy with my investigative work," Mamoon said at the office of Emroz, the new media company where he now works. "The government is facing criticism, which is new for them. It is embarrassed."

Tolo denies it fired Mamoon, saying the company was going to cut Mamoon's salary for budget reasons, so he resigned of his own accord. Tolo believes firmly in free speech and will never succumb to government pressure, said Massoud Qiam, Tolo's director of political programming.

The proposed law would turn RTA into a "state propaganda tool," Edwards said. The information minister would be granted the power to appoint and pay commissioners who regulate the media.

"You don't want to have a minister of information who can literally haul in journalists or influence private media through salaries of commissioners ... That would be worrying in any country," Edwards said.

Several vaguely-worded prohibitions in the law could be used to black out almost any news story.

It would prohibit the "propagation of religions other than the holy religion of Islam"; stories that "affect the stability, national security and territorial integrity of the country" and "articles and topics that harm the physical, spiritual and moral well-being of people, especially children and adolescents."

UNAMA officials and others lobbying for press freedom have met with President Karzai and Information Minister Abdul Karim Khurram, but the outcome for the media is not clear.

Halim Tanweer, Khurram's media adviser, said the information ministry believes "100 percent" in free speech and a free press.

"We broadcast any news in the national interest of the Afghan people," Tanweer said. "We are trying to be impartial. (State TV) does not work for the government."

However, evidence of efforts to muffle the media is rapidly piling up.

_ On Feb. 22 in the western city of Herat, Afghan police beat and confiscated the camera of an Ariana Television cameraman Eshaq Quraishi, who was filming a victim wounded by police gunfire at a protest, according to Afghan press rights organization Nai. A report by Nai quoted Herat police chief Ahmad Shafiq Fazli as saying that Quraishi "was not beaten up by the police ... and their camera was stolen by protesters."

_ And in a sign it's not just Afghan authorities constraining the press, U.S. troops deleted the photos and video of Afghan journalists _ including a freelance photographer and a cameraman of The Associated Press _ covering the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack March 4 in eastern Afghanistan.

_ In Kabul, RTA television reporter Besoodi Forgh was dealt two black eyes by a team of seven men from the information ministry, he said. The men showed up in his newsroom late last month and accused him of spying for Iran. Two men held his hands behind his back, and one man punched him four times in the face and three times on back of the head.

"I'm not a spy. I've never even been to Iran," he said.

He was fired.

But in a sign that Afghan journalists won't bow down quietly, he's gone public about his ordeal. Mamoon said he would stand up for his professional rights, "even if it costs me my life," although he remains pessimistic about the future.

"The government has lost the trust of the Afghan media. The media is wondering who will defend us now? We have nobody," Mamoon said. "This is very dangerous for Afghanistan's democracy. There is no difference between Taliban times and now."

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Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Jason Straziuso contributed to this report.