The Islamic Emirate prevented the Afghanistan Federation of Journalists and Media from holding a press conference over concerns about the status of media in Afghanistan, the federation said in a statement on Wednesday.

The conference was supposed to be held on Wednesday in Kabul.

The federation of journalists and media said the conference was going to be attended by 11 representatives from different media organizations.  

“It was planned that today the Afghanistan Federation of Journalists and Media would hold a conference. National and international media outlets were going to cover it, however, unfortunately, due to the verbal order of the officials of the Islamic Emirate, the conference was canceled,” said Ali Asghar Akbarzada, head of the Afghanistan National Journalists’ Union.  

Members of the federation said that the Islamic Emirate instructed them not to hold the conference until they receive permission.  

“We call on the Islamic Emirate to finalize their decision in the future. They should make the decision as soon as possible and give us a permit so we can hold our conference based on it,” Akbarzada said.  

The Islamic Emirate did not comment over whether or not it prohibited the press conference by the media and journalists federation or not, but said that it remains supportive of the media, based on Islamic regulations.  

“The Islamic Emirate is committed to cooperation with the media and freedom of speech and it supports media under the Islamic structure,” said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.  

Based on statistics, over 43 percent of media activities have been halted and over 60 percent of media employees have become jobless since the Islamic Emirate swept into power in Afghanistan.