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Journalist Mortaza Behboudi has been detained in Afghanistan for 5 months. He was arrested by the Taliban in Kabul as he was about to request accreditation for a report. He is accused of espionage.
Mortaza Behboudi, 29, a smile still clinging to his lips. In photos, we see him reporting for France Télévisions in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. On January 7, the Franco-Afghan journalist was arrested in Kabul by a Taliban patrol, before being transferred to a prison. He would now be charged with espionage. His wife, Alxandra, a 25-year-old Danish, received a call and two letters, including one a few days ago. “He says he tries to stay mentally strong and continues to stay brave. But I also know that Mortaza would never tell me if his real situation was terrible.”she says.
Kabul remains deaf to calls from France to release the journalist
The work of the journalist on a report on the sale by their parents of little Afghan girls married by force had been rewarded at the Bayeux festival. He had underlined the role of the fixers, journalist interpreters, who work like him with the foreign media. “You can’t understand reality without going to see local. (…) Without the fixers, there is no reporting”, he said. Reporter Without Borders is calling for his release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is monitoring the case, but for five months the authorities in Kabul have remained deaf to these calls.