Iranian photojournalist released from Taliban custody

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – An Iranian photojournalist, who was held by the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan, has been released following mediation by high-level Iranian diplomatic authorities.

Tasnim News Agency, where Mohammad Hossein Velayati works, said in a report on Saturday that the photojournalist had been handed over to the Iranian Embassy in Kabul.

It cited Taliban’s deputy spokesperson Bilal Karimi as confirming Velayati’s release.

The photojournalist, according to Anadolu sources, was handed over to the Iranian Embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday night but has not yet returned to Iran.

According to the sources, Velayati has been temporarily barred from leaving the country pending inquiry.

Taliban authorities have not yet provided the reason for his detention.

According to Tasnim News Agency, the photojournalist stayed in Afghanistan for 10 days with legal documents and was arrested at the Kabul International Airport moments before he was scheduled to catch a flight back to Tehran last week.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian took to Twitter on Friday to say that “intensive diplomatic and consular efforts” were underway to secure Velayati’s release.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani also said that the issue was being followed up through diplomatic channels with Afghan authorities.

Senior Iranian lawmaker and spokesperson for the parliament presidium, Nizamuddin Mousavi, on Friday criticized the Taliban over Velayati’s arrest, saying the group has not yet changed its approach.

Iran and Afghanistan share a 900 km (559-mile) border that stretches from Turkmenistan in the north to Pakistan in the south, a largely porous frontier that has been a source of tension between them.

Since the Taliban came back to power in August 2021, relations between Tehran and Kabul have been marked by tension and hostility, ranging from water row to frequent border skirmishes.

In recent months, the long-running dispute over shared water resources from the Helmand River, which originates in the mountains near Kabul, has inflamed tensions between the two sides.