Taliban Release Forced Confession Video of Detained Journalist Mahdi Ansari

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The Taliban-affiliated “Saday-e-HinduKush” media outlet has published a video of the forced confession of Mahdi Ansari, a journalist with “Afghanistan International” and “Hasht-e-Subh,” saying that he was arrested on charges of “propaganda against the regime.”

In this video, the time and circumstances of which are unclear, Ansari appears before the camera saying that he had cooperated with media outlets opposing the Taliban and covered women’s protest programs against the group. In the video, he expresses regret for his journalism and reporting work.

Mahdi Ansari was abducted by Taliban intelligence from Dasht-e-Barchi, Kabul, on 5 October 2024, and that same year was sentenced to one and a half years in prison on charges of “propaganda against the Taliban.”

The Taliban have said that Ansari had been spreading “toxic propaganda” against the group through fake accounts and pages on social media.

However, media activists and international organizations stress that such confessions are coerced and that the arrest of journalists is part of the Taliban’s wider process of suppressing the media and silencing freedom of expression in Afghanistan.