LONDON: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the Taliban on Thursday for violently beating an Afghan journalist and charging three others over corruption reporting, urging them to file an immediate probe. “Taliban leaders must take action to prevent their members from attacking journalists like Reza Shahir, and must immediately drop the spurious charges against three journalists in Faryab province over an old corruption case,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “The detentions, beatings, and harassment of media workers has continued to rise in Afghanistan under the Taliban, which indicates a worrisome trend for press freedom.” Last Friday, Afghan journalist Reza Shahir was stopped by Taliban forces while he was on his way to his home in Kabul, searched him, and proceeded to punch him in the head and beat him on the shoulder with an AK-47. Shahir was stripped of his mobile phone and left unconscious on the street. Previously a reporter for the local broadcaster Rahe Farda TV, Shahir was also beaten and detained by Taliban forces last April, but has since worked as a freelancer to avoid such violent incidents. According to Shahir, Taliban fighters beat him after they searched his mobile phone and found screenshots of media reports about his April detention and beating. He said the Taliban accused him of being a spy and working for foreign governments. Separately, three Afghan journalists have been charged with as yet unspecified criminal offences after being questioned and detained numerous times throughout last month. The three journalists, Firoz Ghafori, Mosamem, and Olugh Beig Ghafori, said they did not know the exact nature of the charges against them but feared they could face prison time.