KhushalRadio Director Sentenced to 3 Months in Prison

Didpress: Sulaiman Rahel, director of KhushalRadio, has been sentenced to prison by Afghanistan interim government’s court in Ghazni province due to posts he published about poverty and the economic crisis.

Afghanistan Journalists Center(AFJC) announced that Sulaiman Rahel, the managing director of KhushalRadio, was sentenced to three months imprisonment by the primary court of the interim government in Ghazni on charges of “propaganda against the IEA.”

According to the center’s statement, Mr. Rahel was arrested by the interim government’s intelligence agency in Afghanistan on May 5 following the publication of posts on the Facebook social media platform that highlighted the rise in poverty, unemployment, and the economic crisis in Afghanistan.

His prison sentence was issued in a closed session without the presence of a lawyer, and according to available information, the imprisonment period was directly ordered by the intelligence agency.

So far, Sulaiman Rahel’s family and colleagues have not issued an official response regarding the issue.

This is the second case of action against KhushalRadio’s directors by the caretaker government within the past year.

Last year, Hakmat Aryan, the former director of Radio Khushal, was also arrested by Taliban forces on similar charges and sentenced to one month in prison.

National and international journalist support organizations have repeatedly expressed concern over increasing restrictions on the media, pressure on journalists, and the rise in arbitrary arrests in Afghanistan.

These organizations emphasize that the continuation of such actions severely threatens freedom of expression and media activities in the country.