The Taliban released Tolo News cameraperson Waheed Ahmadi after detaining him for about three hours on Tuesday. The Taliban gave Waheed Ahmadi his camera back along with its pictures, Tolo News said.

Tolo News, Afghanistan’s first 24 hour news channel, had earlier reported that the Taliban had stopped journalists from covering anti-Pakistan protests in Afghanistan’s Kabul and took away their cameras. The news agency had said that its cameraperson, Waheed Ahmadi, was among those captured by the Taliban during the protest rally.

. . # pic.twitter.com/UyzRunBpSM

— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) September 7, 2021

Tolo news head Lotfullah Najafizada had appealed to the Taliban for the release of Waheed Ahmadi.

“Our colleague Waheed Ahmady, who has covered many frontlines over the years, is arrested by the Taliban in Kabul for filming Afghan women’s protest. I call on the Taliban to release our colleague asap,” Najafizada had said in a tweet.

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“Waheed Ahmady…has covered many frontlines over the years,” Najafizada added.

Waheed Ahmady is released along with a dozen other journalists. Some equipment still to be found. https://t.co/PdRvP88n5R

— Lotfullah Najafizada (@LNajafizada) September 7, 2021

A journalist of another leading Afghan news TV network, Ariana News, was also detained by the Taliban along with his cameraman during the coverage of the protest.

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Bais Hayat, a journalist with Ariana News, reported that his colleague Sami Jahesh, along with cameraman Samim, had been detained by the Taliban during coverage of the protests. “We have been out of contact with them for more than two hours and we do not know their status,” Hayat tweeted.

Sami Jahesh, our correspondent and Samim, his cameraman at @ArianaNews_, were #detained by TB during coverage of today’s #protests in #Kabul. We have been out of contact with them for more than two hours and we do not know their status.

— Bais Hayat (@BaisHayat) September 7, 2021

Hayat, in another tweet, said that one of their cameramen was also arrested while covering the women protests in Balkh and is still in prison.

On the other side, one of our cameramen was #arrested while covering the #women #protests in #Balkh and is still in prison.

— Bais Hayat (@BaisHayat) September 7, 2021