VZCZCXRO9499
OO RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHPW RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #1332/01 1081550
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181550Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7611
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASH DC PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY 0018
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 3977

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 001332 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A, SCA/PPD 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG 
NSC FOR HARRIMAN 
OSD FOR SHIVERS 
CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A, CG CJTF-76 POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM AF
SUBJECT: OUTCRY OVER AG SABIT'S REACTION TO NEGATIVE MEDIA 
COVERAGE 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY: Angered by an April 17 news 
broadcast which he maintains took his comments out 
of context, Attorney General Sabit ordered the 
immediate summons of two Tolo TV news staff for 
questioning that evening.  When Tolo TV legal 
advisor Mohammad Abdullah, general manager Siddiq 
Ahmadzada, and security manager Lal Mohammad refused 
to allow police to detain the anchor and news 
coordinator summoned by Sabit, police detained them 
instead for impeding the order.  Four employees of the 
Associated Press who were observing the incident 
were also detained.  Abdullah, Ahmadzada, and Mohammad 
maintain that they were beaten and had their phones 
confiscated while in police custody.  Although it does 
not appear that Sabit acted outside of his purview as 
Attorney General, his response was clearly an 
overreaction that will undoubtedly heighten national 
and international scrutiny of GOA treatment of the 
media and the upcoming Parliamentary debates on the 
Media Law.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
NEGATIVE MEDIA COVERAGE INCITES IRE FROM SABIT 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶2.  (U) During its regular 6:00 evening newscast, 
Tolo TV aired a one minute clip of AG Sabit stating 
before Parliament that, "There is no appropriate 
system in the government."  The newscast also 
reported Sabit to have said that prisoners sentenced 
to the death penalty would soon be hanged and that 
the President would welcome Gulbuddin Hekmatyar 
and others into the government.  (Note: Today the 
Presidential spokesperson issued a clarification of 
the Palace position on this.  End note.)  Sabit 
was upset by the coverage which took his comments 
out of context.  During an April 18 meeting with 
the Embassy, Sabit said he first asked for Tolo TV 
to issue a retraction, which was refused.  He then 
ordered police under the Ministry of Interior (MOI) 
to summon the news anchor and the news coordinator 
for that evening's broadcast for questioning.  When 
police arrived at Tolo TV headquarters, they met 
with Tolo TV legal advisor Mohammad Abdullah and 
general manager Siddiq Ahmadzada, who argued that 
the news anchor was not responsible for the content 
and said they would send representatives of Tolo TV 
to meet with AG Sabit the following morning. 
 
¶3.  (U) According to Tolo, the police and Tolo TV 
management then walked out of the building together, 
where employees of the Associated Press (AP) were 
waiting to interview them about Sabit's detention 
order which had already become breaking news.  As 
the AP began its interview of Tolo management, 
Kabul district police chief showed up and demanded 
the immediate detention of the news anchor and news 
coordinator.  When Tolo management refused, the 
Kabul police chief detained Ahmadzada, Abdullah and 
Tolo security manager Lal Mohammad along with the 
four AP staff.  During an April 18 meeting with 
the Embassy, Ahmadzada and Abdullah maintained 
that police confiscated their cell phones and beat 
them with the end of their guns.  Ahmadzada and 
Abdullah showed Embassy officers bruises on their 
neck and arm from their alleged mistreatment. 
 
¶4.  (U) Abdullah, Ahmadzada and Mohammad said they 
were taken to the Attorney General's Office for 
questioning by Deputy Attorney Generals Hamidi 
Arab and Temar Shah, who pointed out that Sabit 
had spoken to the Parliament for over an hour 
and asked why Tolo did not show the full speech. 
All were released approximately one hour later, 
 
KABUL 00001332  002 OF 003 
 
 
but repeated news coverage of Sabit's statements 
and the detention of Tolo TV and AP staff continued 
throughout the night. 
 
-------------------------- 
SABIT ACTED WITHIN THE LAW 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) Local media aired coverage of Tolo TV 
management, other journalists and prominent members 
of Parliament such as Shukria Barakzai condemning 
Sabit's actions as illegal throughout the day on 
April 18.  However, it does not appear that Sabit 
acted outside of his purview as Attorney General. 
The Afghan Mass Media Law passed by Presidential 
Decree in 2005 prohibits material that is "libelous 
and slanderous," and Sabit maintains that Tolo TV's 
mischaracterizations of his comments fall under this 
category.  Sabit does hold the authority to summon 
Afghan citizens for questioning without a warrant or 
written documentation.  During an April 18 meeting 
with the Embassy, Sabit asserted that his only 
intention was to summon the appropriate Tolo 
employees for questioning and try to work out an 
arrangement to correct the coverage, but that the 
incident had been blown way out of proportion.  As 
far as allegations by Tolo management that they were 
beaten and their cell phones illegally confiscated, 
Sabit's defense was that he is not responsible for 
the misconduct of police officials and that if 
presented evidence, he would investigate the 
allegations.  He says he simply ordered police 
to detain two specific Tolo employees, not to 
detain other Tolo staff, beat them or to detain 
the AP employees. 
 
------------ 
GOA REACTION 
------------ 
 
¶6.  (U) The Bakhtar News Agency published the 
following statement from the Ministry of Information 
and Culture the same evening of the incident: "This 
evening the security precinct summoned three 
personnel from Tolo TV to the police station and 
conveyed to them the Attorney General's complaint 
about the telecasting of his press conference by 
this TV channel.  After conveying this, the Tolo 
personnel were released.  The Ministry of 
Information and Culture emphasizes that reviewing 
such complaints and violations is the duty of the 
Media Commission.  The Minister of Information and 
culture in phone contact with Saad Mohseni, owner of 
Tolo TV, informed him of the release of the Tolo 
employees, telling him that the Media Commission 
would review this event."  Note:  While the Media 
Commission for Complaints and Violations is 
responsible for reviewing complaints of inaccurate 
media coverage and determining whether they should 
go before the court or can be mediated, Afghan law 
does not preclude Sabit from conducting an 
investigation of the complaints before the Media 
Commission reviews the case. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7.  (U) While Sabit may not have disobeyed the law, 
his response to the media coverage of his statements 
was clearly an overreaction, which Palace officials 
have described to the Embassy as "embarrassing."   A 
peaceful demonstration of approximately 100 
journalists called for by the Afghan National 
 
KABUL 00001332  003 OF 003 
 
 
Journalists Union gathered in front of Parliament 
today to protest what they see as Sabit's abuse of his 
authority and police misconduct.  These events will 
certainly bring additional scrutiny and heightened 
tensions to the upcoming Parliamentary debates on the 
Media Law slated to happen soon - and Karzai will not 
be able to escape the attention placed on his volatile 
Attorney General, either. 
WOOD