UN rights office calls for immediate release of all arbitrarily detained in Afghanistan

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN rights office on Wednesday called for immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained in Afghanistan.

"We are alarmed by the ongoing arbitrary arrests and detentions of civil society activists and media workers in Afghanistan, in particular the targeting of those who speak out against the de facto authorities’ discriminatory policies restricting women and girls’ access to education, work and most other areas of public and daily life," UN human rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said in a statement.

"No one should be detained for speaking out in defence of their fundamental rights and the rights of others," Laurance urged, adding that "arrest or detention as punishment for the legitimate exercise of fundamental rights is arbitrary" under international human rights law.

Noting that a concerning number of journalists and civil society activists have been detained since early 2023, he said they include Matiullah Wesa, the head of PenPath (a civil society organization campaigning for the reopening of girls’ schools), Nargis Sadat, Zakaria Osuli, Sultan Ali Ziaee, Khairullah Parhar, and Mortaza Behboudi.

All were detained with "no clear information as to their whereabouts, wellbeing or any charges against them," he said.