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Mizzima: Taliban policy towards pre



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      Taliban policy towards press makes reporters look like spies

Mizzima News (www.mizzima.com)

Oct. 10: Paris Match reporter Michel Peyrard and his two Pakistani
guides, journalists Mohammed Irfan and Mukkaram Kahn, were charged with
spying two days after having been arrested by the Taliban on 9 October
in Goshta between the Pakistani border and Jalalabad.  At the times,
they were carrying satellite phones and other war reporters? equipment.
Being taken through Jalalabad streets, the three accused were hit with
stones.

They await judgment by a special court, according a quote by Taliban
intelligence chief Mullah Taj Meer in the Islamic Afghan Press.  Death
penalty sentence is likely to be the outcome of a trial for which the
investigation lasted only one day, said Robert Ménard, General Secretary
of Reporter sans Frontières (RSF ? Reporters without Borders), which is
defending Mr Peyrard?s case in cooperation with Radio France
Internationale, Radio Free Europe and the BBC (all of which broadcast
programmes in Pashto and Dari).  In their message, the broadcasting
stations stress that Mr Peyrard has proved himself as an experienced
journalist having worked in Nicaragua, Romania, the Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo
and Chechnya; he is not a spy.

RSF underlines:  ?We urgently call upon those who are detaining Michel
Peyrard to set our colleague free, and to show that respect for truthful
reporting is a value shared by all of us."  The statement specifically
asks for action by the French and Pakistani government on behalf of Mr
Peyrard and his guides.

RSF furthermore stated that it ?considers that these foreign
journalists' attempts to enter Afghanistan illicitly are a direct result
of the Taliban policy towards the international press. The expulsion of
all foreign correspondents, with the exception of those from the Arabic
channel Al-Jazeera, and the refusal to deliver press visas, leads some
brave reporters to enter the country clandestinely, in order to inform
the international public opinion about the situation in Afghanistan?.



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<center><b><font color="#000099"><font size=+1>Taliban policy towards press
makes reporters look like spies</font></font></b></center>

<p><font color="#FF0000">Mizzima News <a href="http://www.mizzima.com";>(www.mizzima.com)</a></font>
<p><i><font color="#FF0000">Oct. 10:</font></i> Paris Match reporter Michel
Peyrard and his two Pakistani guides, journalists Mohammed Irfan and Mukkaram
Kahn, were charged with spying two days after having been arrested by the
Taliban on 9 October in Goshta between the Pakistani border and Jalalabad.&nbsp;
At the times, they were carrying satellite phones and other war reporters?
equipment. Being taken through Jalalabad streets, the three accused were
hit with stones.
<p>They await judgment by a special court, according a quote by Taliban
intelligence chief Mullah Taj Meer in the Islamic Afghan Press.&nbsp; Death
penalty sentence is likely to be the outcome of a trial for which the investigation
lasted only one day, said Robert M&eacute;nard, General Secretary of Reporter
sans Fronti&egrave;res (RSF ? Reporters without Borders), which is defending
Mr Peyrard?s case in cooperation with Radio France Internationale, Radio
Free Europe and the BBC (all of which broadcast programmes in Pashto and
Dari).&nbsp; In their message, the broadcasting stations stress that Mr
Peyrard has proved himself as an experienced journalist having worked in
Nicaragua, Romania, the Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya; he is not a
spy.
<p>RSF underlines:&nbsp; ?We urgently call upon those who are detaining
Michel Peyrard to set our colleague free, and to show that respect for
truthful reporting is a value shared by all of us."&nbsp; The statement
specifically asks for action by the French and Pakistani government on
behalf of Mr Peyrard and his guides.
<p>RSF furthermore stated that it ?considers that these foreign journalists'
attempts to enter Afghanistan illicitly are a direct result of the Taliban
policy towards the international press. The expulsion of all foreign correspondents,
with the exception of those from the Arabic channel Al-Jazeera, and the
refusal to deliver press visas, leads some brave reporters to enter the
country clandestinely, in order to inform the international public opinion
about the situation in Afghanistan?.
<p>&nbsp;</html>

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