Afghan media outlets have slammed proposed amendments to the media law by the Afghan government as an authoritarian move to potentially restrict the freedom of the press.

This comes after 20 Afghan media outlets and media-supporting organizations in an open letter to President Ashraf Ghani raised their concerns about the possibility of restrictions on media outlets and on the freedom of speech, as the government has suggested amendments to the mass media law that was enacted in 2006.

Media outlets believe that such an approach at this time--during the possible peace talks with the Taliban-- would have serious repercussions.

The 2006 mass media law has 54 articles.

The new amendments have been approved by the cabinet and the draft is set to be sent to the parliament for ratification.

The 6 chapters and 59 articles of the mass media law have been approved by the cabinet and are expected to be sent to the parliament for approval. However, some amendments suggested by the government on at least 13 articles of the law have sparked a strong backlash from the Afghan media.

The letter by the Afghan media says that many of the amended articles of the mass media law are in contravention of article 19 of the international declaration on human rights that guarantees the freedom of speech without restrictions.

“The main objective of the government is to avoid seeing its own corruption, shortcomings, failures and incompetence, therefore it wants to put restrictions on media outlets by these amendments,” said Zubair Shafiq, the editor-in-chief of Wesa Daily.

“In fact, it wants to transform a democratic environment into a dictatorial environment,” said Nazari Paryani, the editor-in-chief of Mandegar Daily.

Article 34 of the Afghan constitution says, “freedom of expression shall be inviolate” and “every Afghan shall have the right to express thoughts through speech, writing, illustrations as well as other means in accordance with provisions of this constitution.”

The constitution of Afghanistan states that no law shall, under any circumstances, exclude any case or area from the jurisdiction of the judicial organ as defined in this chapter and submit it to another authority.

But, in the amendment plan, the authority has been given to the government.

Article 6 of the mass media law says Journalists shall have the right to avoid disclosing their source of information, except when a competent court orders the disclosure. But the amended draft says that the source of information can be disclosed to government institutions such as police, NDS and the Attorney General’s Office.

“The government as an executive body does not have the authority to amend the law related to the freedom of the press,” said legal expert Wahid Farzayee.

“It causes more damage to the society than benefit,” said Hamid Mayar, a journalist in Kabul.

Meanwhile, a number of Afghan journalists have also raised concerns over the possible approval of the amendment in the mass media law by the government.

“Such a work by the government is itslelf an act of oppression and monopoly,” said Yar Mohammad Maihan Parast, a political activist in Kabul.

The Presidential Palace has said that the government will address the concerns of the Afghan journalists.

“The Afghan government will never impose restrictions, the press freedom is an important gain for us as a nation,” said Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani.

The amendments of the mass media law will make the cancellation of the media licenses easy and will put limits on the autonomy of the media outlets and their broadcasting policy.