Taliban forces have raided the home of Neda Parwani, an online media owner and women’s rights protestor, and detained her along with her husband and son, according to two sources close to Mrs Parwani.
Zhulia Parsi, a women’s rights activist and Mrs Parwani’s colleague, told Rukhshana Media Mrs Parwani’s husband was taken by Taliban forces from their home in Kabul’s Khairkhana neighborhood during an initial raid at around 9am on Tuesday.
Not long after, the Taliban forces returned, and after forcing entry to the family home, they also took Mrs Parwani and her four-year-old son, Mrs Parsi said.
It is not known where the family has been taken or under what charge.
A source close to Mrs Parwani said she was a member of the Spontaneous Protest Movement and had recently started running an online media business from her home.
The source added that after Mrs Parwani interviewed some girls at her house, the Taliban forces became suspicious and searched the home.
Taliban authorities in Kabul have not commented on the incident. The extremist group has a history of detaining women who protest their right to an education or to earn an income. Eight women in Khairkhana have previously been detained after meeting to organize an indoor protest. Indoor protests have become more common after the abuse and detention women faced if they protested in public.
The women protesters were eventually released on alleged forced guarantees to not speak out against the Taliban again.
Khaled Zadran, the spokesman of the Taliban security command, denied the women were ever detained.
Rukhshana Media’s attmepts to contact Ms Parwani’s family for comment have not been answered.
