A correspondent for Japan’s Kyodo news agency in Kabul, Ehsan Akbari, has been arrested by the intelligence service of the de facto Taliban regime, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) collective announced, demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

The reporter’s brother told the journalists’ defense collective that Mr Akbari was arrested last week and his laptop, camera and mobile phones were subsequently seized by members of the intelligence agency.

The AFJC said in a statement it released that this was the third arrest of press workers in the past week. Two Afghan news agency workers were detained on January 18 before being released on bail on the 20th, he explained.

The arrests of the journalists exacerbate the atmosphere of “fear and self-censorship” among media workers in Afghanistan, the organization said.

After retaking power in the Southeast Asian country in August 2021, the Taliban imposed extensive restrictions on the media. Human rights organizations report that dozens of journalists have been detained, most of them temporarily, for violating these restrictions.

The AFJC recorded 168 cases of “violations of the rights of journalists and media workers” in 2023 in the country, including 61 arrests. At least two of them remain in custody.