On October 5, 2024, Mahdi Ansary, a reporter for the Afghan News Agency, disappeared while returning home from his office in the Dashte Barchi area of western Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital.
Taliban intelligence agents confirmed his detention, but his whereabouts were initially unknown.
The General Directorate of Intelligence subsequently allowed Ansary’s family to visit him at the agency’s prison in Kabul, where he was held without charge as of late 2024, a journalist familiar with the case told CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
CPJ was unable to determine the reasons for his ongoing detention.
Ansary, from the Hazara ethnic minority group, frequently reported on killings and atrocities targeting the community during the Taliban’s rule on his Facebook page, which has 4,700 followers. Hazara people have faced persecution and escalating violence since the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in August 2021.
In the three years since their return to power, the Taliban have embarked on an unprecedented crackdown on the media, with numerous journalists detained, outlets shuttered and banned, and hundreds members of the press forced into exile.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told CPJ via messaging app in October 2024 that the journalist was working with “banned [media] networks” and had engaged in “illegal activities,” without providing further details.