A number of journalist support institutions and civil society organizations have requested Mandegar Daily columnist, Mr. Azizulrahman Sakhi zada’s immediate release.
In a press conference yesterday,
the participants were insisting that Attorney General Office should quickly release Mr. Sakhi Zada from detention center.
Almost two weeks before when Mr. Sakhi Zada published a critique about Anti-bribery and Corruption Administration, he was presented in Attorney General Office and soon after detained.
Many efforts have been made in the previous days in order to release Mr. Sakhi Zada; but Attorney General officials has refused any requests.
Yesterday during press conference Mr. Abdul Majeed Khelwatgar head of Nay – Afghan media support organization said: “according to the media law , at first the case should have been reviewed by Mass Media Commission; but the case has been unlawfully and directly followed by Attorney General.”
The representatives of journalist organizations insisted that Mr. Sakhi Zada shouldn’t be kept in detention, and they agreed to Head of Anti-bribery and Corruption Administration, Mr. Azizullah Ludeen’s right to follow Sakhi Zada’s article through legal means.
M. Faheem Dashty Chief Executive of Afghanistan's National Journalists Union who was one of the participants of the press conference said: “Saki Zada has done neither robbery nor homicide, and he is neither smuggler nor criminal. So he does not escape, and he shouldn’t be kept in detention center.”
He added: “Sakhi Zada should be released without any conditions and after that if it needed he should be prosecuted according to the law.”
While considering Sakhi Zada’s arrest an effort for suppression of protests against corruption, head of the Afghan Women Coalition Against Corruption, Mrs. Amena Mustaqeem said: “The government wants to completely destroy any disclosing acts about corruption in their primary levels. Civil society and media should not let it be done.”
