Green trend sues 40 social media users for insulting Saleh

KABUL (TOLO News): Afghanistan Green Trend (AGT), a social and youth empowerment organization, which is led by Amrullah Saleh, the former Directorate General of National Directorate of Security (NDS) and the first running mate to President Ashraf Ghani, on Tuesday said that it has referred at least 40 social media users to the Attorney General for “using insulting and abusive language” against Saleh.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s office has said that it has ordered an investigation into claims.

According to the Green Trend, some of those sued are government servants who work in the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Higher Education.

“These people were notified to appear for investigation in line with the law, and so far two people have appeared and preliminary investigations are being conducted,” said Jamshid Rasuli, a spokesman for the Attorney General of Afghanistan.

But, NAI (an NGO supporting open media in Afghanistan) has described the move by the Green Trend as a violation of the law.

“There is no space for repression in Afghanistan. The high-level officials should act according to the law whenever there is healthy criticism or an allegation against them. They should avoid misusing their political position or exploiting the Attorney General’s Ofice to intimidate the people,” said Sediqullah Tawhidi, the deputy head of the Journalists’ Safety Committee.

“Sending people directly to the Attorney General by Mr. Saleh or by the president is a clear violation of the law, therefore, the legal and judicial institutions of the country should take action against such moves,” said Mujib Khelwatgar, CEO of NAI.

Saleh responds: “I would like to make it clear to everyone that I have not introduced anyone to the legal and judicial institutions for making insulting and abusive remarks on my writings. What is exchanged on the social media platforms is decided about by the legal department of Afghanistan Green Trend for the sake of defending the privacy of the organization and its members,” Saleh said in a Facebook post.”