KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — An Afghan television journalist detained as
the country voted in its second parliamentary election has been
released, NATO said. Hojatullah Mujadadi, who worked for state-run
Radio Television Afghanistan in Kapisa province, "has been released by
Afghan authorities", NATO's International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) said in a statement late Friday. He was picked up on
September 18 by Afghan security forces for reasons that remain unclear. Two
other Afghan journalists -- both working for Al Jazeera television --
were also released Friday after being detained separately by the
coalition over alleged links to the Taliban. Cameraman Mohammad
Nader was picked up from his home in Kandahar city on Wednesday and
Rahmatullah Nekzad, also a cameraman working for Al Jazeera and US news
agency Associated Press, was detained in Ghazni province on Monday. President
Hamid Karzai on Thursday ordered the information and culture minister
to investigate the detentions and secure the journalists' release. Local
media rights advocates criticised the arrests as a violation of freedom
of speech in the war-scarred nation, where Islamist insurgents have
been battling to topple a Western-backed democracy since 2001.
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