Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has accused the Taliban of suppressing Afghan journalists through forced confessions, describing it as part of a broader campaign to intimidate and control the press.

According to AnsarPress, the organization stated on Tuesday, November 4 that Mehdi Ansari, a journalist with Afghan News Agency, was forced to deliver a coerced confession after being arrested on charges of producing "anti-Taliban propaganda."

RSF has called for the immediate release of Mehdi Ansari and six other journalists who have been illegally detained by Taliban authorities.

The report noted that a video of Ansari`s forced confession was published on the Facebook page "Voice of Hindu Kush," which is affiliated with the Taliban`s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI).

Ansari was accused of producing "toxic propaganda against the regime" and collaborating with exiled media outlets. He was arrested on October 5, 2024, sentenced to one and a half years in prison in January 2025, and later transferred to Bagram Prison.

RSF added that other journalists - including Abuzar Sarim Sarpuli, director of Tawana News Agency, and Shakib Nazari, a correspondent for NTV Japan - were also forced into televised confessions, alongside several others, including Bashir Hatif and Hamid Farhadi, who remain in detention.

The organization stressed that these coerced confessions are part of the Taliban`s systematic strategy to instill fear and suppress independent journalism through intimidation and surveillance by its intelligence services.

Since the Taliban`s return to power in 2021, Afghanistan`s media freedom has deteriorated sharply, with at least 165 journalists arrested to date.

According to RSF`s 2025 World Press Freedom Index, Afghanistan ranks 175th out of 180 countries, reflecting one of the world`s most repressive environments for journalists.