Saad Mohseni and Sam Seerat, Lisbon in the fate of these Afghans
Saad arrives at Brasileira do Chiado wearing jeans, gives Samim a strong handshake and orders a coffee and a flan pudding. This is how, even a little abrupt, the meeting between the two Afghans: a refugee in Portugal, a columnist for Message, Samim Seerat, the other media mogul, Saad Mohseni, owner of International Media Group, Mobi and the channel tv fool where Sam is accessible, in Kabul.
Samim doesn’t ask for anything, he’s doing it in Ramadan. With the shy air of someone who is still adapting to the new land – he has been in Portugal since -, he smiles and looks at the one who is visibly his idol in November with deference and does not question. He hardly speaks.
Saad, layman, man of the world, does not keep Ramadan. He drinks coffee and asks about the story of Brazilian. Wants to know everything, resourceful. The son of a diplomat, he was born in London, lived in Japan, Pakistan and Australia. He still lives between London, New York and Dubai – the group’s current headquarters.
He is a star in the world of international media – this weekend a report with him in the Sunday hoursbefore in Bloombergno Die Zeit. He has always been one of the main sources for journalists in Afghanistan, as a long report on him in the The New York Times newspaper.
23 years ago, at the dawn of the liberation of Afghanistan, the Mohseni family created the first independent commercial channel in Kabul, Tolo. They were supported by Rupert Murdoch and with official support from the Americans – which makes him now one of the main targets of Taliban fury.
Everything that Tolo brought modernity to the Afghan media – music, contests, football, women – is now banned. “A breath of fresh air”, remains the channel’s slogan.
So far from it all, in the hot sun of Chiado, Saad and Samim know they have what happened to Afghanistan to digest, Samim was an assistant director at Tolo, he will hardly return to the country (his parents are protected in the USA), Saad is one Keeping the channels, dodging the regime and trying to understand what you can do with the constant attacks, detained journalists, threats and 85% less publicity, for the first time, doing harm.
“It could be a matter of time. I don’t know how long we’re going to go on,” says Saad. “We danced this dance with the Taliban, in the meantime, but I don’t know how long… In the rest of the world they say that after a storm comes a calm, in Afghanistan they say that after a storm comes another.” He looks at Samim, who nods.
What was once more the business of a major media producer – from Iran to Ethiopia – gained political contours: “Music was taken off the air, soap operas too, women had to cover their heads. But we, we had 8 women and we would have her against that 22. We had politicians interviewed at press conferences. Sometimes, sometimes not,” says Saad.
Since Kabul fell on August 15, 2021, Tolo TV has had a dual role: independent voice, however low, and opposition, however Weak. A Saad: the girls who teach are now only banned from going to school through TV. “TV perhaps plays an even more important role now that many teachers have left the country.”
TV itself got into trouble when many of its workers fled, like Samim. “They did what had to be done. I went out too,” says Saad. 12 of the employees in an attack, and many are arrested frequently. When Toto Notícias gave simple telenovelas maintenance employees three pieces of news – in solitary. They were released three days later. “But even the Taliban regime realizes the importance of television. I believe that from the ashes something will rise”, concludes Saad.
And what does Saad Mohseni do in Lisbon? It’s just one of the stories of the city’s vocation as a haven. His brother lives in Cascais, and Saad wants to buy an apartment here, a safe place for his daughters, who are still studying. It is as Samim said in his chronicles: peace. But “in an interesting place, not where there are many tourists… Intendant?” he asks, promising to return soon.
* Some of the information was given by Saad Mohseni during the Perugia International Journalism Festival, in early April, where Message looked for him and where we arranged this meeting in Lisbon. You can review the conference here:
https://www.journalismfestival.com/programme/2022/afghanistan-media-interview-of-saad-mohseni
READ THE SAMIM CHRONICLES HERE
Samim Seerate
He is an Afghan refugee in Lisbon, where he arrived in November 2021 with his wife and daughter. He was a father again on January 7th. In Kabul MO News as a media executive in the BY group that owns Tolo. He is also the founder of a start up called Paiwast Health Services. He writes in the Message about his experience in Portugal every month.
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