Abdul Hanan Mohammadi, a journalist in the central province of Kapisa, has been missing since Sunday noon, relatives said.
Family members of Mohammadi said he left his home with friends on Sunday morning in Hisa-e-Awal district of Kapisa. Since then, the family said they have no information about Mohammadi.
“Today, we were informed that the Islamic Emirate detained him. I say to them that my brother is innocent and they should release him,” said Ishaq Mohammadi, brother of Mohammadi.
This comes as the relatives of Mirza Hossieni, head of a local radio station in Daikundi province, and Jamaluddin Deldar, head of a local radio station in Khost province, said that there has been no information of the whereabouts of these two journalists for the past two weeks.
“They promised us to release him on Sunday but there is no information about him for the past week,” said Sakina Hossieni, Mirza Hosseini’ s wife.
“It has been more than that--Jamaluddin Deldar, the head of the Gardiz radio station, is in detention. I don’t know the motive for the arrest of my brother,” said Ahmad, a relative of Deldar.
The media-supporting organizations called for answers about the disappearing journalists.
“If the situation keeps going on like this and the government doesn’t pay attention, we will face a bad disaster,” said Rashid Sediqqi, head of a media watchdog group.
The deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate, Bilal Karimi, denied the detention of journalists.
“If someone is arrested with the title of journalist for advice, it is due to issues which are beyond journalistic issues,” he said.
This comes as the Reporters Without Borders in a recent report called for the formation of the Commission on Media Violation (CMV), saying that the commission could prevent arbitrary detentions.
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