Source:
July 27, 2010

Afghanistan Council of Ministers shut down the private television network Emrooz charging it with “fomenting religious differences and disrupting national unity.”

An announcement issued by the office of the president states that the continued activity of this television network was “highly hazardous to the government’s rule” and therefore the Ministry of Intelligence and Culture was charged to immediately shut them down.

Najibollah Kabuli, member of Afghanistan’s parliament and head of Emrooz television condemned the move saying that this action is a result of pressure from Shiite religious leaders and his own opposition to Iranian policies.

In the past months, a number of demonstrations were staged in several cities of Afghanistan to protest the alleged execution of tens of Afghan nationals in Iran. The demonstrators expressed severe anti-Iran positions in the course of the demonstrations condemning Iranian leaders and burning images of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei.

Reportedly, Najibollah Kabuli was the organizer of the Kabul demonstrations and he also participated in the event.

Afghanistan Council of Ministers has also banned a number of television programs for broadcasting “un-Islamic” content.

Currently 109 radio stations, 56 television networks and 60 newspapers are active in Afghanistan.

While some of them have received warnings for broadcasting content in “violation of Islamic and local culture”, this is the first time a television network is shut down in Afghanistan.