Afghanistan International Television (AITV) - one of the most prominent anti-establishment voices in the country has been forced to shut down broadcasts for over a week due to the orbital jammers blocking its satellite stations
A Taliban security personnel stands guard Photograph:(AFP)
According to reports, the Taliban sent disruptive signals from a ground station to the satellite, interfering with the channels broadcast. Between September 5 and 13, viewers saw a blank screen on their TV sets before the channel shifted to a different satellite frequency.
“I had received information in August from inside Kabul that the Taliban had purchased an extremely expensive jammer with the intention of using it against us,” AITV's executive editor Harun Najafizada told The Independent.
“This act of orbital jamming not only attacks press freedom but also violates international standards and highlights the Taliban’s increasing efforts to dismantle free expression and restrict Afghan citizens’ access to truthful information,” added Najafizada.
The publication stated that the Taliban obtained the Iranian orbital jammers earlier this year in May, with the rather expensive purchase confirmed by sources inside Kabul’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), the intelligence agency of the Taliban.
“This interference and shutdown via orbital jammers will not be limited to just AITV but other international news channels which the Taliban doesn’t find fit under their interpretation of Sharia law, they want to implement their own state radio and television broadcast which praise the Supreme leader and his Talib ministers,” a source was quoted as saying.
Notably, after the death of 22-year-old Mahasa Amini in Iran last year and the subsequent protests, Tehran also jammed AITV's sister channel Iran International.
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