We must put pressure on the Taliban, make noise to release Mortaza Behboudi, this is the message of his relatives, plagued by concern since the arrest in early January in Kabul of this Franco-Afghan journalist, who collaborated with more fifteen French media in recent years and whose reports have won awards on several occasions.
The Taliban authorities accuse him of espionage, he risks the death penalty by hanging, and his wife, Aleksandra Mostovaja, has not heard from him for ten days. It calls on the international community to exert all its weight on the Taliban authorities so that he regains his freedom.
He was arrested on January 7 in Kabul and imprisoned. I only got one phone call with him about ten days ago, it only lasted a minute, and then nothing. I don’t know how he is, if they mistreat him, if he is alone, if he has access to food, I don’t know about anything. On the phone, he told me not to worry, but that’s Mortaza, he never wants anyone to worry about him, not me or his family, but I know him, and in his voice , the way he was talking, I knew he was about to cry. And I knew that from that moment on, I had to fight even harder to see him again. Now I hope that my message will reach as many people as possible, that they will share and share what is known about Mortaza’s fate, especially on Twitter where the Taliban are present, so as to put pressure on them to release him.
In Mostovaja: “My husband Mortaza Behboudi is deprived of his rights in detention”
“My husband is not a spy”
I am very, very angry, because he is being accused of being a spy, but he is only a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. He doesn’t belong in jail, and it’s deeply unfair that he’s jailed. He has worked for or with a very large number of newsrooms that have always respected his approach to Afghanistan, which consists of highlighting Afghan culture and relating the living conditions there in a very sincere way. Because he loves Afghanistan and he has always wanted to draw the most faithful portrait of this country and what is happening there at the moment. He’s not a spy.
A. Mostovaja: “My husband Mortaza Behboudi is not a spy”
On January 5, 2023, Mortaza Behboudi traveled to Afghanistan for a report. 48 hours later, he was arrested as he was about to collect his press accreditation. ⬇#FreeMortaza https://t.co/6o3YKgpKGW
— RSF (@RSF_inter) February 6, 2023