On Thursday, the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice announced the closure of Tamadon TV, alleging that the broadcaster was affiliated with the Harakat-e-Islami political party, after the Taliban banned all such affiliations, and operating on “seized land,” according to Qari Baraktullah Rasuli, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice who posted the statement on X, formerly Twitter, and media reports. Tamadon TV denies the claims.

In a breaking news announcement earlier that day, Tamadon TV stated that a Taliban delegation was inside its station to shut down operations. However, later the TV station confirmed that the suspension of its operations was postponed until Saturday. The Taliban has not announced an exact date that it plans to close the station. 

“The Taliban must immediately and unconditionally reverse its decision to ban Tamadon TV and allow the channel to continue broadcasting,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The Taliban is expanding its relentless crackdown on Afghan media and suppressing any independent voices. This must end.”

On June 6, Mohammad Jawad Mohseni, director of Tamadon TV, rejected the Taliban’s claims about the broadcaster’s political affiliations, according to broadcaster Afghanistan International. Mohseni noted that the late founder of the TV station, Ayatullah Asif Mohseni, had resigned as the leader of Harakat-e-Islami in 2005, years before establishing Tamadon TV.

Mohseni said that “the land for Tamadon TV was purchased from a private owner and has a legitimate and legal title deed, and it is not and has never been government property.”

On February 18, 2023, about 10 armed Taliban members raided the headquarters of Tamadon TV in Kabul, beat several staff members, and held them for 30 minutes.

Tamadon TV is predominantly owned and operated by members of the Hazara-Shia ethnic minority and covers political and current affairs as well as Shiite religious programming. Hazara people have faced persecution and escalated violence since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.

The closure order of Tamadon TV follows a series of other restrictions imposed on Afghan media in recent months. In May, the Taliban’s Media Complaints and Rights Violations Commission banned journalists, analysts, and experts from participating in discussions or cooperating with London-based Afghanistan International’s television and radio stations. The Commission called on citizens to boycott Afghanistan International and banned anyone from providing facilities for broadcasting the channel in public places.

Earlier, in April, the Taliban shut down Noor and Barya TV broadcasters, which were affiliated with other Islamist political parties, citing violations of “national and Islamic values.”

The Taliban has shut down other broadcasters since it took over the country in 2021,  including Radio Nasim. in central Daikundi Province, Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV in eastern Nangarhar province, and Radio Sada e Banowan in northeastern Badakhshan province. In 2022, the group also banned international broadcasters such as the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America.

CPJ’s requests for comment sent to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid did not receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

By Anish Chand in Suva

Energy Fiji Ltd (EFL) has warned that the Monasavu and Nadarivatu hydropower schemes may need to shut down if it does not rain after October.

In a message to customers, EFL said the Monasavu dam had been experiencing below-average rainfall over the past few months from November 22 to April 23.

“These months are typically our rainy period,” the statement read.

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“This low rainfall has contributed to the declining dam and water level at Monasavu as well as impacted to some level the Nadarivatu hydro scheme.

“If this low or nil rainfall continues in the upcoming dry period from May to October 23, then this can lead to the Monasavu and Nadarivatu hydropower schemes to operate at critically low water level and may need to be shut down eventually in the next few months.

“EFL is urging all its valued customers to use electricity wisely and conserve energy.”

Anish Chand is a Fiji Times journalist. Republished with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

“Russian authorities’ shameless attempt to shutter the JMWU threatens to silence an organization whose fight for journalists’ rights and press freedom in Russia has been a thorn in authorities’ side,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities must immediately lift their suspension of the union’s activities, drop all the charges against it, and stop stifling critical voices in the country.”

Founded after a 2016 attack on local and foreign journalists in Russia’s North Caucasus, the JMWU has some 600 active members and defends labor rights, provides assistance to journalists, and supports press freedom in Russia.  

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday, July 13, according to those news reports, which said the union is accused of publishing “materials containing misleading information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine that were aimed at discrediting the use of the Russian armed forces. On July 4, the Moscow City Court ordered the union’s activities suspended pending a judgment in the case, according to JMWU board member Andrei Jvirblis, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

From May 16 to June 16, the Moscow prosecutor’s office conducted an inspection of the union for its compliance with trade association legislation, according to the JMWU and those news reports, which said the union had not been notified about the outcome of that inspection.

On February 24, the day of Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine,  the JMWU published a statement calling the war a “perfidious step” that would risk journalists’ lives and “lead to the death of many citizens of our countries and huge destruction.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

Moments later, Nicaraguan National Police officers raided the outlet’s offices in the capital Managua and “aggressively forced” the outlet’s receptionist and accountant to leave, according to EFE and multiple news reports. Later on June 10, Trinchera de la Noticia announced that it was shutting down operations. EFE reported on June 12 that the police still occupied the offices.

The official notice of the closure, which Nicaraguan news website Confidencial published and CPJ reviewed, was issued by the Public Registry of Real Estate, which is under Nicaragua’s judicial branch. It accused Trinchera de la Noticia of committing a “severe infraction” by violating various articles of Nicaragua’s criminal code, commercial code, the General Law of Public Registries, and others. The resolution stated that the outlet “disrupted social peace and refused to provide information within the established time frame or did so incompletely” and ordered the outlet’s owners to pay a fine of 53,748 córdobas (US$1,500).

CPJ called Talavera several times and sent a message through Twitter to the outlet seeking comment. The outlet’s Twitter account responded, saying that Trinchera de la Noticia was not giving any further statements. CPJ emailed the Nicaraguan police and judiciary for comment but did not receive a response.

Trinchera de la Noticia was founded in 1999 by journalist Xavier Reyes Alba and produced a news website and a weekly print tabloid distributed in hotels and embassies in Managua, according to the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Voice of America. That report said the outlet operated on an annual subscription basis and usually covered politics and financial news. After its closure, there is only one subscriber-funded print tabloid–Bolsa de Noticias–left in Nicaragua, according to that report.

CPJ has extensively covered the Nicaraguan government’s ongoing crackdown against the press since a wave of protests in spring 2018, including imprisonments, criminal proceedings, the occupation of news outlets, criminal defamation charges, and physical attacks. One journalist was killed while covering protests in April 2018.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and journalist Maria Ressa says that the Philippine government has ordered her news organisation Rappler to shut down, reports Axios.

The online news website Rappler has exposed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “bloody war on drugs”, documented the government’s propagation of disinformation and been critical of President-elect “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, son of the late dictator.

Ressa, a Filipino-American, said in a keynote address at the East-West Center’s International Media Conference in Honolulu, Hawai’i, that the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission had issued the decree on Tuesday, reports Nathan Bomey.

• READ MORE:  Nobelist Maria Ressa: Social media is corroding US democracy
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She said Rappler would fight the order, which “affirmed” an earlier decision to revoke the organisation’s certificates of incorporation.

“We’re not shutting down. Well, I’m not supposed to say that,” Ressa said.

“We are entitled to appeal this decision and will do so, especially since the proceedings were highly irregular.”

Axios reported that the Philippine embassy in the US did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Shared Nobel Peace Prize
Ressa shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov after using her platform to raise awareness of Duterte’s alleged abuses.

She had previously been convicted in the Philippines of “cyber libel” and could serve prison time in a case widely seen as politically motivated.

Ressa has also been a vocal critic of social media platforms for failing to prevent the flow of falsehoods.

“Most people, they don’t realize they’re being manipulated, that these platforms are biased against facts,” Ressa previously told Axios editor-in-chief Sara Goo in an exclusive interview published yesterday.

“You don’t get facts. It’s toxic sludge. Social media encourages anger, hate, conspiracy theories. There’s violence,” and it’s getting worse, she added.

• Pacific Journalism Review is publishing several articles about Rappler and media freedom in next month’s edition.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

Earlier today, the Press Supervisory Board of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance indefinitely revoked Kelid’s operating license, forcing it to stop publishing, according to reports by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency and the semi-official Mehr News Agency. Kelid’s website was also taken offline, those reports said. Neither agency offered an explanation for the ban.

“Truthful and open reporting about matters of daily life is of vital importance for the Iranian public,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Iranian authorities must allow Kelid to resume operations immediately and cease any attempts to censor the media.”

The ban was issued days after Kelid published a November 6 article headlined “Millions of Iranians Living Under Poverty Line,” according to a copy of that article circulated on social media.

The image accompanying that article featured a picture of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s hand drawing a red line, which some readers took to imply that Khamenei was responsible for the increasing poverty in the country, according to news reports.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for comment, but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“The Next Digital board’s decision to cease publication of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper is the result of the Chinese government’s outrageous efforts to stomp out critical voices in Hong Kong,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Even under colonial rule, the people of Hong Kong enjoyed robust freedom of expression. China has managed to snuff that out, in stark violation of firm commitments it made to the people of Hong Kong during the handover from British rule in 1997.”

The board of Next Digital, the newspaper’s parent company, announced today that the 26-year-old Apple Daily would publish its last edition and shut down operations tomorrow, according to news reports. Police raided the office of the openly pro-democracy newspaper last week and arrested its senior management, as CPJ documented at the time.

On June 21, the CPJ board announced that it will honor Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned founder of Next Digital and Apple Daily, with the 2021 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.