Zaki Qais, an Afghan journalist, is beaten at home in Kabul

Two men knocked on Zaki Qais' home in Kabul around 11 p.m. on January 15, introduced themselves as police officers, and attacked him. A man who was disguised and whose face was covered grabbed Qais and smashed him in the head with an unknown object as he opened the door. The man sustained cuts to his head after resisting and closing the door. Mr. Qais is a documentary filmmaker and the former director of the independent Afghan broadcaster Khawar TV.

In his interview with CPJ, Qais said he did not know who had attacked him, but he had been harassed repeatedly by authorities and Taliban supporters. In mid-August 2021, shortly after the Taliban seized power in Kabul, he stopped working at Khawar TV. A person unknown contacted Qais shortly before Kabul fell and asked him not to post anti-Taliban news on his Facebook page, where he posted news and commentary on political issues to about 325,000 followers.

Qais was beaten for two hours by a group of armed men on August 17, 2021, by telling him that his work was "not journalism," with slaps, guns, and a frightened look on their faces. In another incident, Taliban members detained Qais while he filmed an anti-Taliban protest in Kabul on September 26; he said authorities held him for about six hours and whipped him 20 times before releasing him.