An Afghan rights activist who has campaigned for girls’ education has been arrested, the United Nations disclosed on Tuesday, March 28, 2023.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan announced that Matiullah Wesa, Founder and President of Pen Path, a local nongovernmental group that travels across Afghanistan with a mobile school and library was arrested in the Afghan capital.
Local reports revealed that Taliban security forces detained Wesa after his return from a trip to Europe.
The U.N. urged authorities in Kabul to clarify Wesa’s whereabouts, reasons for his arrest and ensure his access to legal representation and contact with family. There was no immediate word from the Taliban on the arrest.
Since its takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban has imposed restrictions on women’s and minority rights. Girls are barred from school beyond the sixth grade and last year, the Taliban banned women from going to university.
The Taliban says schools and universities are only temporarily closed to women and girls until a “suitable environment” can be created.
However, women are severely restricted in other ways too. The Taliban have decreed that women should be dressed in a way that only reveals their eyes, and must be accompanied by a male relative if they are travelling more than 72km (48 miles).
Last November, women were banned from parks, gyms and swimming pools, stripping away the simplest of freedoms. The enforcement of the rules is different in different areas, but the rules create an environment of fear and anxiety.
The Taliban has also hindered the work of foreign aid groups after it said that women could not work in domestic and international NGOs except in the health sector.
Some organisations were forced to suspend services at a time when the country is reeling from a severe economic and humanitarian crisis.
The restrictions have continued despite international condemnation and protests by ordinary women as well as activists speaking up on their behalf.
Wesa has been outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school and learn, and has repeatedly called on the Taliban-led government to reverse its bans.
His most recent tweets about female education coincided with the start of the new academic year in Afghanistan, with girls remaining shut out of classrooms and campuses.
“The damage that closure of schools causes is irreversible and undeniable,” Wesa tweeted last week.
U.N Official Alarmed By Wesa’s Detention
The U.N. Special Rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, remarked that he was alarmed by Matiullah Wesa’s detention.“His safety is paramount & all his legal rights must be respected,” Bennett tweeted.
The PenPath network founded by Wesa has more than 2,400 volunteers across the country. They help set up local classrooms, find teachers and distribute books and stationery.
Also on Tuesday, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing near the Foreign Ministry in Kabul the previous day, when six people were killed and about a dozen wounded.
It was the second time this year that IS staged an attack near the ministry. In mid-January, the militant group killed five people there and wounded several others.
The regional IS affiliate, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, is a key rival of the Taliban and has frequently targeted Taliban officials and patrols, as well as members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority.
IS has increased its attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.
READ ALSO: Scottish National Party Elects Humza Yousaf As New Leader
