Mr. Marof Sayedi a reporter for ‘Salam Watandar’ radio staion and Mr. Ahmad Shah Moahed the editor-in-chief of ‘Sarhad’ local radio station in Ghor province were beaten by Police officers.
According to these two journalists, there was a fight among a number of Police officers during Nowruz festivals and when the journalists have attempted to film the scene, they have encountered violence from police.
Abdulqadeer Ghafori the representative of Afghanistan’s National Journalists Union (ANJU) states: “when sayedi has complained about the violent conduct of the Police to the Police headquarters, they not only have done nothing about it, rather he has encountered more violence from the head of security.”
He adds: “Moahed has been able to escape from the scene, however Sayedi has been beaten frequently by police officers.”
According to eye witnesses, Ziauddin Saqeb the head of security of Ghor Police Department has insulted Sayedi in response to his pleas to prevent police violence and he has told to other police officers: “who is a journalist to film us? [Journalists have no right to film us.]”
Mr. Saqeb’s this behavior then has allowed the police officers to beat Sayedi once more.
The officials of ANJU in Kabul assert that they have shared this incident with the Joint Committee of Media and Government and they are following it up seriously.
