Afghan TV stations face legal action for ‘nudity’

KABUL — The Afghan government has recommended legal action against two TV channels for allegedly broadcasting scantily dressed women and disseminating immorality, officials said Wednesday.

A ministry of information and culture official said stations Saba, which means dawn, and Setara, which means star – were guilty of broadcasting songs, in which “there was lots of nudity”.

“The committee determined that it was against all norms... so the stations were referred to the attorney general’s office for investigation,” ministry advisor Jalal Noorani said.

He was referring to a government-led committee that oversees the dozens of private TV stations and other media that have sprung up after the 2001 fall of the Taliban.

Abdul Muquim Abdulrahimzai, the broadcast director of Saba TV, denied the allegations. “We have not broadcast anything that is against Afghan culture or Islamic values,” he told AFP.

Instead he accused the government-led media violation committee of acting against freedom in the media, but said so far no one from the attorney general’s office had contacted the station for investigation.

Setara was not immediately reachable for comment.

Afghanistan’s media sector has boomed in the last decade, largely with financial support from the West, but the industry, especially television stations, have been under mounting pressure from conservative circles. — AFP