Release of French-Afghan Journalist Mortaza Behboudi Demanded
Release of French-Afghan Journalist Mortaza Behboudi Demanded
Behboudi returned to Afghanistan for the purpose of reporting on 5 January and was arrested barely 48 hours later when he was about to collect his press accreditation.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 14 French media outlets and production companies with which Mortaza Behboudi has worked are calling on the Taliban regime to release the French-Afghan reporter who has been imprisoned for a month in Kabul.
“We remained silent for 30 days about the detention of Mortaza Behboudi, a journalist with French and Afghan dual nationality who is being held in a prison in Kabul, the Afghan capital,” said RSF in a statement released today (February 6). “Today, we are letting the world know that he was arrested in Kabul one month ago, on 7 January, in the hope that he will be released as quickly as possible and will be able to return to France.”
Behboudi began his career as a photojournalist at the age of 16 in Afghanistan, the country of his birth. When he was 21, he fled to France because he had been threatened, and was given a refuge in the Maison des Journalistes (Journalists’ Home) in Paris.
Along with other exiled journalists, he created a news website called Guiti News. He soon began freelancing for French and Francophone media outlets including France Télévisions, TV5 Monde, Arte, Radio France, Mediapart, Libération and La Croix.
He co-authored a series of reports called Across Afghanistan under the Taliban that was published by Mediapart and was awarded the Bayeux Prize for War Correspondents and the French National Daily Varenne Prize. He contributed to a report entitled Young Afghan girls sold in order to survive that was broadcast by France 2 and was also awarded the Bayeux Prize in 2022.
Behboudi returned to Afghanistan for the purpose of reporting on 5 January and was arrested barely 48 hours later when he was about to collect his press accreditation. On 15 January, his mobile phone called the assistance unit at Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
As no message was left, it is impossible to know whether it was Behboudi who called or whether one of his jailers used his phone. Since then, no one has answered when his number is called.
“All we know is that after being held in a Kabul for 11 days for not showing his accreditation, he was transferred to another prison in Kabul and is said to be accused of spying,” RSF said in its statement.
RSF and other media outlets appeal to the Taliban government to end this senseless situation. RSF says it has opened a communication channel with the Taliban authorities.
