Afghanistan: Independent Reporter Stefanie Glinski Deported By Taliban, Denied Re-Entry Into The Country

Location: Afghanistan, Kabul 
Date: October 13, 2022

Photographer and independent reporter Stefanie Glinski has been forced to deport from Afghanistan and denied re-entry. Her recent charting on the rise of the Islamic emirate has cost her the right to remain in Afghanistan and report freely.  Glinski, like many other journalists working on the ground, is an important voice to shedding light onto the Taliban takeover. The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) condemns the deportation and threats faced by Glinski. 

In 2018 Stefanie Glinski landed in Kabul. She has since been reporting on the escalating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. With the completion of the withdrawal of the United States troops from the region and the Taliban takeover on 30 August 2021, reporting has increasingly become perilous.The Taliban regime has severely restricted press freedom through cancellation of visas and non-entries to Afghanistan. In many other cases it has used harsher methods of censorship. The state forces are violently suppressing journalists.

In a recent Twitter thread she has stated:

“I know that I’m not the only journalist who is facing difficulties working in Afghanistan - and of course, above all, I am thinking about my Afghan colleagues who are working under the most trying circumstances; who are now regularly silenced, detained, beaten, tortured.”

The Taliban threat has placed Afghanistan at the top as the most dangerous region for journalists with hundreds of cases in grave danger. The Coalition For Women In Journalism has closely monitored the situation in Afghanistan in recent years. In one of our most recent reports we have documented the harassment and beating of Selgay Ehsas. We are alarmed by the rapidly growing number of journalists at risk. Women journalists especially, are under constant attack .In August 2021, the highest number of women journalists killed were in Afghanistan.

“I strongly believe that sharing information with the Taliban- who detain and beat journalists for reporting, and during whose reign many former government employees have gone missing, is not just inappropriate, but dangerous.”- says Stefanie Glinski.

In its evacuation efforts, The Coalition For Women In Journalism has managed to evacuate as many as 402 journalists, women leaders and activists from Afghanistan since August 2021. We vehemently denounce censorship of free media. Censored media means no accountabilty. No accountability threatens lives. Now more than ever we need advocates like Glinski to be able to exercise their press freedom rights. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism has reached out to Glinski and we have extended our support to her during these challenging times. We call on the Taliban authorities to retract their visa restrictions on Stefanie Glinski and let her re-enter Afghanistan to resume her reporting!

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

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