human rights defender
Mortaza Behboudi
Actions and Campaigns
Mortaza Behboudi
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER
Urgent support needed
HRD's year of birth
1994
HRD's Gender
Man
Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
HRD's geographical origin
Urban
Current Status
Released
HRD's bio and work
Mortaza Behboudi is a Franco-Afghan journalist, documentary filmmaker, and photojournalist specializing in migration, refugees, and conflict zones. He founded Daily Bazar newspaper and co-founded Guiti News, a French news platform led by refugee journalists. Mortaza has worked with major media outlets including France Télévisions and Arte.
In 2023,he was detained by the Taliban in Kabul for nine months before his release following international advocacy.
He is recognized for his courageous reporting on human rights and press freedom.
Detained since
Jan 7, 2023
Date of release
Oct 18, 2023
Sentence
Acquitted of all charges by a Kabul criminal court on 18 October 2023 after 284 days of detention.
Latitude: 34.51943551510156
Longitude: 69.34746265411378
Geolocation of detention
Country or area of detention
Region of detention
- Asia: Southern Asia
Recent case update / evolution
Released on 18 October 2023
Any other relevant documents
https://www.franceinfo.fr/monde/afghanistan/afghanistan-les-trois-premiers-mois-j-ai-ete-torture-tous-les-jours-raconte-le-journaliste-mortaza-behboudi-ex-prisonnier-des-talibans_7004447.html
https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/international/article/afghanistan-le-journaliste-mortaza-behboudi-raconte-les-details-de-son-calvaire-aux-mains-des-talibans_244636.html
https://www.amnesty.fr/actualites/afghanistan-une-nouvelle-vague-darrestations-de-voix-dissidentes-par-les-talibans
https://www.afintl.com/en/202501147302
https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/international/211023/journalist-mortaza-behboudi-back-france-after-284-days-taliban-jails
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortaza_Behboudi#:~:text=Mortaza%20Behboudi%20(Persian%2FDari%3A,war%20reporter%20and%20documentary%20filmmaker.
Attachments
Documented by
- Country(ies) of nationality
- HRD's year of birth
- 1994
- HRD's Gender
- Man
- Type of HRD
- Journalist/Blogger
- HRD's thematic area of engagement
- Civil and political rights
- HRD's Picture
- HRD's bio and work
Mortaza Behboudi is a Franco-Afghan journalist, documentary filmmaker, and photojournalist specializing in migration, refugees, and conflict zones. He founded Daily Bazar newspaper and co-founded Guiti News, a French news platform led by refugee journalists. Mortaza has worked with major media outlets including France Télévisions and Arte.
In 2023,he was detained by the Taliban in Kabul for nine months before his release following international advocacy.
He is recognized for his courageous reporting on human rights and press freedom.
- HRD's geographical origin
- Urban
- Country or area of detention
- Region of detention
- Asia: Southern Asia
- Location of detention - City/Town
- Kabul
- Location of detention - Facility
- Pol e Charkhi prison
- Geolocation of detention
Latitude: 34.51943551510156
Longitude: 69.34746265411378
- Geolocation of detention
- Detained since
- Jan 7, 2023
- Current Status
- Released
- Date of release
- Oct 18, 2023
- Charge(s)
- Anti-government propaganda
- Spreading fake news
- Sentence
Acquitted of all charges by a Kabul criminal court on 18 October 2023 after 284 days of detention.
- Recent case update / evolution
Released on 18 October 2023
- Allegations / reports of ill-treatment
He was subjected to severe ill-treatment during his 284-day detention by the Taliban in 2023. He reported daily torture, including beatings, electric shocks, forced injections, and the extraction of teeth. Behboudi described the prison conditions as dire, with inmates committing suicide after enduring torture. He was held in a basement cell without exposure to natural light for seven months. These accounts align with reports from other detainees who experienced similar forms of abuse in Taliban custody. Despite the absence of a formal trial, Behboudi was released on October 18, 2023, following international pressure and advocacy efforts.
- Protection actions and campaigns
- Any other relevant documents
https://www.franceinfo.fr/monde/afghanistan/afghanistan-les-trois-premiers-mois-j-ai-ete-torture-tous-les-jours-raconte-le-journaliste-mortaza-behboudi-ex-prisonnier-des-talibans_7004447.html
https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/international/article/afghanistan-le-journaliste-mortaza-behboudi-raconte-les-details-de-son-calvaire-aux-mains-des-talibans_244636.html
https://www.amnesty.fr/actualites/afghanistan-une-nouvelle-vague-darrestations-de-voix-dissidentes-par-les-talibans
https://www.afintl.com/en/202501147302
https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/international/211023/journalist-mortaza-behboudi-back-france-after-284-days-taliban-jails
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortaza_Behboudi#:~:text=Mortaza%20Behboudi%20(Persian%2FDari%3A,war%20reporter%20and%20documentary%20filmmaker.
- Documented by
- Consent status
- Consent to register, store and publish the information
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Date added
4 relationships, 3 entities