Kapisa radio station director still held

Radio Kapisa FM director Hojatullah Mujadadi is still being held by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Kabul, although both Afghan officials and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced on 24 September that he had been released. “My son is still being held by the security forces,” Reporters Without Borders was told by his father, who was reached in the northeastern Kapisa valley. “NDS officials told me they were investigating the contacts my son had with the Taliban,” he added. “It is shocking that the Afghan intelligence services are refusing to comply with President Hamid Karzai’s order to release Mujadadi, while ISAF freed the two other journalists whose release he ordered,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We urge the president to ensure that Mujadadi is quickly released and allowed to go back to work.” Mujadadi, who used to work for the national radio station, was arrested on 18 September at a voting station in Kapisa province that was being visited by the provincial governor. He was then transferred to an unknown location in Kabul under the control of the NDS. In recent months, Mujadadi had reported being threatened by both the governor and NDS officials because of his independent coverage of the situation in the province. ISAF said in a communiqué on 24 September that Mujadadi had been freed by the Afghan security forces. Afghan officials also told Reporters Without Borders that he and the other two journalists had been released on the president’s orders.