AFGANISTAN: Afghan govt raids TV station

News story provokes attorney-general to order raid on Tolo television

Dawn
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Kabul --- Afghanistan's attorney-general, accused by critics of regularly breaking the law, has raided Tolo television, one of the country's most popular stations, over a news item, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.

About 50 armed policemen raided Tolo's studio in an upmarket Kabul suburb on Tuesday night, assaulting staff and taking three senior journalists to the office of Attorney-General Abdul Jabar Sabet, Tolo said in a statement.

The attorney-general's office could not be contacted and the Interior Ministry, which oversees his work, told local reporters that Sabet had done nothing wrong.

Dozens of journalists and lawmakers protested on Wednesday outside parliament against the raid, accusing President Hamid Karzai's government of smothering freedom of speech.

"Actually, the action and this order was 100 per cent against the law, against the media law, against the constitution," Shukria Barakzai, an outspoken woman MP and former journalist, told newmen at the rally. "They really crossed the law. That's the reality. The enemies of the freedom of expression are not just those who are against this government."

The raid comes amid complaints, including by a group representing more than 100 aid agencies, that a new media law to be debated by parliament soon will restrict freedom of speech.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, condemned the raid and called for an investigation.

Date Posted: 4/18/2007