Reporting on anti-Taliban protests led to the arrest of three Afghan journalists

Three journalists (Faisal Modaris, Idris Rahimi, and Milad Azizi) from the Kabul Lovers YouTube channel as well as Rashid Azizi's brother were detained on January 6 while they were dining at a restaurant in the Shari Naw district of District Four. Modaris hosts Kabul Lovers, Rahimi runs the camera, and Milad Azizi owns the outlet.

With about 240,000 followers on its YouTube channel, the broadcaster covers current events and daily life in Kabul, and has been running since the Taliban took over in August. The Taliban's intelligence agency later released Rashid Noori, but Modaris, Rahimi, and Azizi remain in custody.

They say the journalists are being held by the counterterrorism body of the Directorate General of Intelligence. They say they have been denied access to their families and lawyers. A report last month on the three's coverage of protests by residents of Panjshir province following the death of a civilian by Taliban militias was seen more than 100,000 times and cited by international news outlets, including the BBC.

Reporting, which included criticism of the Taliban and was widely shared, is likely to have been the reason for the journalists' arrests, according to people who spoke to CPJ.

* This article contains information sourced from the Committee to Protect Journalists.