ISLAMABAD: Afghan journalists are increasingly being forced to record “video confessions” for producing material deemed “anti-Taliban,” adding to the growing clampdown on press freedom inside Afghanistan, according to a report released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday.

The case of Afghan News Agency journalist Mahdi Ansari has become a stark example of the worsening situation. Ansari was arrested by members of the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) in October 2024 near his office and was later sentenced to 18 months in prison by a Kabul court.

During his initial trial in January 2025, held without the presence of his family or defence lawyer, the court accused him of “spreading propaganda against the Taliban de facto authorities” based on his reporting and Facebook posts, according to Amnesty International.

While in detention, Ansari “faced ill-treatment, including solitary confinement, and was denied regular family visits,” Amnesty reported.

Earlier this month, a video of his forced confession was posted on the Facebook page Voice of the Hindu Kush, which is affiliated with the GDI intelligence agency.

Ansari is not alone. According to the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), between March 2024 and March 2025, 181 cases of media and journalist rights violations were recorded in Afghanistan, including 131 threats and 50 arrests.

Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, Afghan media have been steadily suffocated by new restrictions, particularly following the implementation of the Taliban morality law in 2023. At least 165 journalists have been arrested since then, and Afghanistan now ranks 175th out of 180 countries in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.

Other journalists have also been subjected to forced confessions. The director of Tawana News Agency, Abuzar Sarem Sarepuli, along with NTV Japan correspondent Shakib Nazari, was forced to publicly confess after being arrested during a GDI raid on July 24, 2025.

They were detained alongside Mohammad Bashir Hatef, interim director of the Afghanistan Journalists Organizations and Media Federation.

“These latest arrests and forced ‘confessions’ are a terrifying escalation of the Taliban's relentless campaign to eradicate independent journalism in Afghanistan,” said Célia Mercier, Head of the RSF South Asia Desk, as quoted in the RSF report.

The crackdown continues to intensify. In February alone, political programs on television were banned, the women’s radio station Radio Begum was temporarily suspended, and two media workers were arrested.

In 2024, 12 media outlets were shut down, while the remaining outlets received verbal directives prohibiting them from engaging in political debates or airing critical programming.

While the Taliban interim authorities have repeatedly signaled their desire for international recognition, their systematic repression of journalists and media institutions stands in direct contradiction to global standards, where transparency and press freedom are foundational principles.

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Journalists forced into ‘video confessions’ by Afghan authorities: reports