mobilization for the release of Mortaza Behboudi, who has been in prison for 50 days in Afghanistan

50 days of detention. The misunderstanding grows over the weeks. The Franco-Afghan journalist Mortaza Behboudi was arrested in Kabul by the Taliban, on the grounds of espionage. In the French newsrooms, mobilization grew around the support committee to demand the release of a reporter highly regarded by his peers in the profession.

The hashtag #FreeMortaza is taken up on all social networks. What do the Taliban gain by detaining a journalist, they who seek to normalize their relations with the press and the international community? And the charge of espionage obviously does not hold. Born in Afghanistan in 1994, he grew up in Iran where his family settled.

His vocation will be born in the demonstrations of June 2009, in the big Iranian cities. The young teenager fell in love with photojournalism, but he was arrested for documenting the uprising. He then wanted to return to his country of birth, out of love for Afghanistan, in order to follow a university course. But it is a time when the attacks redouble in intensity, when the corrupt Afghan power is contested, when crime thrives, and when it is difficult for a student to build himself up.

Exile in France

Mortaza Behboudi frequents newsrooms more than university benches. He investigates sensitive subjects, such as opium trafficking, the war in Iraq, and the attacks perpetrated in Kabul, particularly during the 2014 presidential campaign. In the spring of 2015, the journalist was finally kidnapped by armed men, in the Wardak region. His release is fiercely negotiated. He opts for exile.

The condition of a refugee in Paris is two and a half months on the street. The soup kitchen, sleeping with the Afghans on the ground, in the Gare du Nord. Wander around, meet volunteers, before glimpsing the light of the Journalists’ House. It is here that he will learn his French, and find the energy around his life project: a profession as a reporter.

With an Afghan press card, he is accredited to the Cop 21, lands an interview with Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, freelances for several media, and sees his candidacy accepted at the Sorbonne, in a master’s degree in international relations.

He continues to get it, writes his first articles for Mediapart And Release. He does not depart from his condition as a refugee, even if everything is better for him.

Mortaza wants to carry the voice of migrants

Guti (the world and the universe in Persian) is launched. The editorial staff of this online media is made up of young French journalists, but also and above all of experienced reporters, having fled their country (Syria, Cameroon, Chad).

For Mortazah, “This diversity encourages a dual Franco-refugee look at current events in France, the sharing of opinions, of different points of view, but also the sharing of skills. Through our various experiences, we can offer cross-views on social issues, and offer, for example, an answer to the question: what view does a refugee have of France?

But he continues to collaborate with the French media. Journalist and fixer for France Télévisions, Arte. He always writes for Mediapart. Friendships are born with the figures of the editorial staff with whom he works: Dorothée Ollieric, they obtain together the last Bayeux-Calvados prize for war correspondents, Rachida El Azzouzi at Mediapart. Together, they share the production of a short film.

Of those who meet him, all remember the smile that lights up his face. And this is not an image of Épinal. Overflowing with life and projects, he submitted to us before flying off to Afghanistan a platform project that will inevitably see the light of day… One day, when he returns.

Because this journalist, who is not yet 30, has no place in a prison in Kabul. Free Mortaza!