Under the monarchy of Zahir Shah, human rights were usually respected. As of 1949, the Afghan Prime Minister Shah Mahmud Khan, increased press freedom, but these moves were soon reversed. The Press Law which was implemented in July 1965, gave considerable freedom to the press for the first time. While the press was mostly free, in some cases the King closed down media from dissidents that were considered threatening. The communist Khalq republic that governed Afghanistan after the Saur Revolution in 1978 was brutal, vigorously suppressing opposition. The government abducted and executed thousands of prisoners, rural civilian dissidents.