KABUL, Afghanistan: The Taliban released two foreign journalists working with the UN refugee agency and several of the aid organization’s Afghan staff on Friday, UNHCR said, hours after news broke about their detentions in the capital, Kabul.
The announcement followed a tweet by the Taliban-appointed deputy minister of culture and information, Zabihullah Mujahid, who said they were detained because they didn’t have documents that properly identified them as UNHCR. Mujahid said they were freed after their identities were confirmed.
“We are relieved to confirm the release in Kabul of the two journalists on assignment with UNHCR, and the Afghan nationals working with them,” the Geneva-based organization said in a brief two-sentence statement. “We are grateful to all who expressed concern and offered help. We remain committed to the people of Afghanistan.”
The development in Kabul comes as President Joe Biden signed an executive order that promised $3.5 billion — out of $7 billion of Afghanistan’s assets frozen in the United States — would be given to families of America’s 9/11 victims. The other $3.5 billion would be freed for Afghan aid. The order would allow US financial institutions to facilitate access to the money by humanitarian groups, which would then give it directly to the Afghan people.
One of the detained foreign journalists was Andrew North, a former British Broadcasting Corporation journalist who has worked extensively in Afghanistan. His wife, Natalia Antelava had earlier issued a plea on Twitter for his release.
“Andrew was in Kabul working for the UNHCR @Refugees trying to help the people of Afghanistan,” Antelava said. “We are extremely concerned for his safety & call on anyone with influence to help secure his release.”
The Committee to Protect Journalist had also condemned the detentions and called for the immediate release of the journalists.
“The Taliban must immediately release Andrew North and all other journalists held for their work, and cease harassing and detaining members of the press,” the CPJ statement said, noting they were detained on Tuesday.
The Taliban swept over Afghanistan, capturing Kabul and much of the country in mid-August, as US and NATO troops were in the final, chaotic weeks of their pullout following the 20-year intervention.
“The Taliban’s detention of two journalists on assignment with the UN refugee agency is a sad reflection of the overall decline of press freedom and increasing attacks on journalists under Taliban rule,” Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, said in Washington.
Also released on Friday was Parvaneh Ibrahimkhel, a women’s rights activist detained more than two weeks ago. She spoke to local TOLO TV to confirm that she was free but few other details were immediately available. The international community had also demanded her freedom, as well as that of four other women activists.
Since taking control, the Taliban have imposed widespread restrictions, many of them directed at women. Women have been banned from many jobs, outside the health and education field, their access to education has been restricted beyond sixth grade and they have been ordered to wear the Islamic headscarf, or hijab. The Taliban have, however, stopped short of imposing the burqa, which was compulsory when they previously ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s.
Universities for women have also begun to re-open and Taliban have promised girls would be allowed to resume their education beyond grade 6 after the Afghan New Year at the end of March.
In January, the Taliban stormed the Kabul home of activist Tamana Zaryabi Paryani who was among about 25 women who took part in an anti-Taliban protest a few days earlier against the hijab. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Paryani was also being released, but there have been international demands for her freedom as well.
The international community has been wary of officially recognizing Afghanistan’s new rulers, concerned the Taliban would impose the same harsh rule as they did when they were in power the first time.
In the wake of the takeover, international funding was suspended and billions of dollars in Afghanistan’s assets abroad, mostly in the US, were frozen and financial aid to the government was largely halted, pushing the Afghan economy further into a tailspin.
Taliban free detained UNHCR staff, 2 foreign journalists
https://arab.news/9yd9e
Taliban free detained UNHCR staff, 2 foreign journalists
- The development in Kabul comes as President Joe Biden signed an executive order that promised $3.5 billion — out of $7 billion of Afghanistan’s assets frozen in the United States — would be given to families of America’s 9/11 victims
To infinity and beyond: Grendizer’s 50 years of inspiring Arabs
- 50 years after its creation, the Grendizer anime series continues to capture Arab imagination
- Arab News Japan speaks to creator Go Nagai, Middle Eastern fans and retells the story behind the UFO Robot tasked with protecting our planet
LONDON: Few cultural imports have crossed borders as unexpectedly, or as powerfully, as Grendizer, the Japanese giant robot that half a century ago became a childhood hero across the Arab world, nowhere more so than in Saudi Arabia.
Created in Japan in the mid-1970s by manga artist Go Nagai, Grendizer was part of the “mecha” tradition of giant robots. The genre was shaped by Japan’s experience during the Second World War, and explored themes of invasion, resistance and loss through the medium of science fiction.
But while the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East.
The anime “UFO Robot Grendizer” arrived on television in the region in 1979, dubbed into Arabic and initially broadcast in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. The story it told of the heroic Duke Fleed, a displaced prince whose planet had been destroyed by alien invaders, struck a chord with children growing up amid regional conflict and occupation by Israel.
Its themes of defending one’s homeland, standing up to aggression and protecting the innocent were painfully relevant in the region, transforming the series from mere entertainment into a kind of emotional refuge.
Much of the show’s impact came from its successful Arabization. The powerful Arabic dubbing and emotionally charged voice-acting, especially by Lebanese actor Jihad El-Atrash as Duke Fleed, lent the show a moral gravity unmatched by other cartoons of the era.
The theme song for the series, performed by Sami Clark, became an anthem that the Lebanese singer continued to perform at concerts and festivals right up until his death in 2022.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. For many, it was not only their first exposure to anime, it also delivered lessons on values such as justice and honor.
Grendizer was so influential in the region that it became the subject of scholarly research, which in addition to recognizing the ways in which the plight of the show’s characters resonated with the audience in the Middle East, also linked the show’s popularity to generational memories of displacement, particularly the Palestinian Nakba.
Half a century later, “Grendizer” remains culturally alive and relevant in the region. In Saudi Arabia, which embraced the original version of the show wholeheartedly, Manga Productions is now introducing a new generation of fans to a modernized version of the character, through a video game, The Feast of The Wolves, which is available in Arabic and eight other languages on platforms including PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, and a new Arabic-language anime series, “Grendizer U,” which was broadcast last year.
Fifty years after the debut of the show, “Grendizer” is back — although to a generation of fans of the original series, their shelves still full of merchandise and memorabilia, it never really went away.
