2023-06-06 17:30:07
Do not let go and hold on for the duration so that Mortaza Behboudi does not fall into oblivion. From Paris to Rennes, from Sainte-Croix-Vallée-Française (Lozère) to Douarnenez (Finistère), the relatives of the 29-year-old Franco-Afghan journalist have been mobilizing since they learned of his arrest, in Kabul, by the Taliban, January 7. Through regular gatherings, the thousand people who make up his support committees try to alert public opinion and political leaders to contribute to his release, as the months go by.
Respected by his peers for his qualities as a reporter, fixer and interpreter, Mortaza Behboudi collaborated with many French and French-speaking media, France Télévisions, Radio France, TV5Monde, Arte, but also Release et The cross. As the journalist was about to request his accreditation, he was reportedly accused of espionage by the Taliban. Information always in the conditional, because there is no legal formalization for the moment.
During a day of support for press freedom organized on May 30 in Rennes, his colleagues and friends painted the portrait of a passionate journalist, overflowing with energy and committed. “He has an incredible force of conviction”says Caroline Troin, head of the Breton support committee, who met him in 2016 during the Douarnenez Film Festival, the French city of Mortaza Behboudi’s adoption. “He is still fighting to keep press freedom alive in Afghanistan”explains journalist Rachida El Azzouzi, from Mediapart. With Mortaza Behboudi, she notably co-signed a series of reportsrewarded in 2022 by the Bayeux prize for war correspondents and the Varenne prize for the national daily press.
“Courage” and “professionalism”
“Mortaza does not want to talk about Afghanistan only through the war, but also about its culture, its history, and the daily life of Afghan men and women”explains his wife, Aleksandra Mostovaja, a 25-year-old Latvian-Danish who has put her studies on hold to devote herself full-time to the release of her husband. “He is a self-taught journalist who does not forget where he comes from, who lived exile in his flesh and was bruised by it”adds M.me El Azzouzi.
Mortaza Behboudi began his career as a photojournalist at the age of 16, in Afghanistan, his native country, before taking refuge in France in 2015, after threats were made against journalists. Only 21 years old, he was welcomed at the Maison des Journalistes in Paris, where he learned French, after having spent three difficult months living on the street. In 2019, he co-founded the information site Guiti News to try to offer another look at exile and immigration.
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