By Rukhshana Media
Days after the Taliban arrested women activists in the Afghan capital, Human Rights Watch said on Monday, the group’s response to the arrests shows they “intent to eradicate critical women’s voices through unlawful use of force.”
Tamana Zaryab Paryani, her three sisters, and Parwana Ibrahimkhel, who had participated in recent anti-Taliban protests in Kabul, were arrested from their homes on January 19, according to family members and eyewitnesses.
Despite the Taliban’s repeated denials of the arrests, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban acting minister of foreign affairs, heading the Taliban’s delegation in Oslo, Norway, reportedly admitted that the Taliban’s fighters might have arrested the women.
“By failing to hold their forces accountable, Taliban leaders are sanctioning such human rights violations against women activists and others. Arbitrary arrests and disappearances have become the Taliban’s routine method of responding to criticism,” the New York-based Human Rights Watch said.
The international organization asked the United Nations and other countries, including Norway, to pressure the Taliban for the “women’s immediate and unconditional release.”
Deborah Lyons, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, also met with Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban’s interior minister, on Monday, urging “the Taliban leadership to probe [the] issue and secure the liberty of the missing Afghan women activists who were reportedly abducted from their homes last week,” UNAMA said in a Tweet.
