Detained staff of Afghan TV station released

Seven employees of the Afghan TV Arezo station detained earlier this month by the Taliban authorities have been released, a company source said on Sunday.

They were released in recent days on a written guarantee that they will not escape and will attend court, the source told AFP.

"Our seven colleagues have been released on guarantee," said the employee on condition of anonymity, adding their case will be heard before a court next week after which a "final decision" is expected.

Taliban authorities shut down the TV station on December 4 after the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV) accused the channel of being supported by exiled media and of betraying Islamic values.

The station has not yet been allowed to re-open, said the source.

A press freedom group, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), welcomed the TV staff release but deplored the continued closure of the station and the conditional release of its employees "as indicative of a systematic repression and censorship process".

The channel, founded in 2006 in northern Mazar-i-Sharif city, produces news as well as wildlife documentaries and "Islamic series" dubbed from Turkish, with a staff of some 70 people in Kabul, according to AFJC.

Afghanistan's media sector has dramatically shrunk under three years of the Taliban government, while international monitors have criticized Kabul's new rulers for allegedly trampling reporters' rights.

Research by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and its Geneva-based Human Rights Office said journalists and media outlets "operate under an environment of censorship and tight restrictions".

Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said there are no restrictions on journalists, as long as they "consider the national interest and Islamic values and avoid spreading rumors".