Top Afghan peace broker, Abdullah Abdullah, who oversees Afghan government peace talks with the Taliban, said Saturday at the opening ceremony of Free Speech Hub in Kabul that Afghan journalists have sacrificed for free speech and that won’t be lost in vain.
“We have a place in terms of freedom of speech and will move forward this way,” he said. “There is no way go back.”
Chairman of the Afghan reconciliation council also said there is an opportunity for peace and all parties should seize it.
With reference to the international forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah said the Taliban has no more excuses, and thus, Afghanistan’s conflict should be resolved through political settlement.
Meanwhile, Tahir Zuhair, acting minister of Information and Culture, called on the Afghan government and the High Council for National Reconciliation to give a seat for journalists at the negotiating table.
Najiba Ayubi, leading member of the Free Speech Hub and Director-General of the Humanitarian and Development Services for Afghanistan/The Killid Group (DHSA) called on parties to respect the freedom of expression.
At the event on Saturday, April 17, Anisa Shaheed, Afghan journalist working for TOLOnews television network, was recognized as best journalist of the year and awarded the “The Face of Freedom of Speech”.
As many as 1,700 journalists were candidates for the award.
The newly established Free Speech Hub called for an immediate end to the targeted killings of journalists and other civilians, adding that cases of murder and violence against journalists should be cracked at the earliest with the perpetrators being hold to account.
According to Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, out of 137 cases of murder of journalists over the past two decades, 127 have so far been cracked. Journalists and the Afghanistan Free Speech Hub criticize the government for not sharing details of those cases.
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