Guwahati: The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), a global media safety and rights body, has expressed concern over the closure of Radio Seday-e-Eslah in Afghanistan by the Taliban authorities, while extending support to the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AJC), which condemned the shutdown.
The Kabul-based radio station, which recently marked its 18th anniversary, was ordered closed by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Justice on August 5, 2026, after being described as an affiliate of the banned Jamiat-e-Eslah (Afghanistan Social Reform and Development Society).
The management of Radio Seday-e-Eslah (Voice of Reform) denied the allegation, saying the station had operated under private ownership since 2018 and held a valid licence.
The AJC described the closure as part of increasing pressure on independent media outlets in Afghanistan. The authorities had also recently banned Rah-e-Farda TV in Kabul, following the closure of another television outlet, Tamadon TV.
PEC president Blaise Lempen said media professionals in Afghanistan had faced difficult conditions since the Taliban took control of Kabul five years ago. He said several journalists had faced physical and mental abuse without official justification and that a number of media outlets had been restricted or shut down under what he described as arbitrary rules.
Lempen urged the Taliban authorities to stop harassing media professionals and reconsider the decision to close Radio Seday-e-Eslah so that it could resume operations.
PEC’s South Asia representative Nava Thakuria said many Afghan media professionals had left the country in recent years and sought refuge abroad.
Thakuria cited the case of a senior Afghan journalist who was forced to leave the country and take unofficial shelter in Pakistan. The journalist had worked with several Afghan media organisations until April 2025 and was arrested by the Taliban authorities in 2023, when he was subjected to harassment during detention.
He later escaped from Kabul and began staying in Pakistan, where he remains concerned about the possibility of arrest and subsequent deportation to Afghanistan.