The Taliban decide this week on the broadcast license of ten media outlets

ISLAMABAD, 3 Jan. (DPA/EP) –

The Taliban head of Information and Culture, Abdul Haq Hammad, said Tuesday that a court in Kabul will decide as of this week on the situation of the licenses of up to ten media outlets to be able to broadcast.

Hammad has justified that the licenses of these media outlets are in question due to the numerous complaints they would have been receiving for the infractions they would have committed against “the national interest and values” during the past year.

“We have repeatedly summoned those responsible for these media to the Ministry and then to the commission to clarify and respect the principles, but they have ignored our requests,” Hammad said.

Since they seized power in August 2021 after the surprise takeover of Kabul, the Taliban have been applying strict censorship against the media, causing many professionals to leave the country.

Those who are still in Afghanistan find it increasingly difficult to report on the pressures and repression that fundamentalists, for example, exert against those who protest policies that prohibit women and girls’ access to education, work and the free movement.