Afghan journalist Shikib Ahmad Nazari is serving a three-year sentence on charges of spreading anti-state propaganda and insulting Taliban leader Mullah Hibtuallah in his reporting.
The Taliban’s Kabul Zone Military Court sentenced Nazari, who reports for Japan’s Nippon TV News, on December 3, 2025, according to a court ruling reviewed by CPJ and a journalist who is aware of Nazari’s situation and who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, fearing Taliban reprisals.
Nazari was detained on July 24, 2025, after around 15 Taliban intelligence agents and morality police raided his office in the capital Kabul, according to CPJ reporting. Nazari was held at a detention center of the morality police for a week before he was transferred to a Taliban intelligence prison in Kabul.
Nazari’s arrest was only confirmed publicly after a Taliban-linked account on social media platform X released a video of the journalist on August 21, 2025. The post was deleted shortly after publication, for unknown reasons.
Since the Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, they have waged a brutal campaign against the press, barring female journalists from working at the public broadcaster, beating reporters while they covered protests, and detaining journalists as a tool to censor news outlets. The destruction of Afghanistan’s independent media has also pushed hundreds of journalists into exile.
Taliban Deputy Spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat did not respond to CPJ’s text messages requesting comment about Nazari’s detention.