Afghanistan: Activists and journalists face arrest, detention, torture and new morality law, three years after the Taliban takeover

Civic space in Afghanistan remans rated as ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. Three years on since the Taliban seized power, the de facto authorities continue to commit human rights violations and crimes under international law against the Afghan people, especially women and girls, with absolute impunity. Civil society faces severe restrictions and activists have been arbitrarily arrested and detained for their criticism of the Taliban. Others have faced harassment, intimidation and violence and some have been killed. The Taliban have also raided media offices and detained journalists. Some activists have been tortured and ill-treated.

In May 2024, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan - Richard Bennett, released a report where he analysed the establishment and enforcement of an institutionalised system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity and exclusion of women and girls. In the report he said that challenging and dismantling the Taliban’s institutionalised system will require an “all tools” approach. In his report, he also supported the calls from Afghans, notably Afghan women, to recognise gender apartheid as a crime against humanity as the term most fully encapsulates the institutionalised and ideological nature of the abuses in Afghanistan. He also advised states to "[a]void normalization or legitimization" of the Taliban "until and unless there are demonstrated, measurable and independently verified improvements, including human rights benchmarks, particularly for women and girls."

Within days of the report, the Taliban confirmed their participation in Doha III talks in Qatar, with envoys from 25 countries, intended to set out a course for international engagement with Afghanistan. The Taliban demanded that they would be the ‘exclusive official representatives’ of the country, with Afghan civil society representatives, women's rights activists and members of opposition groups excluded. Further, the meeting agenda included no items on human rights or women’s rights.

In response, human rights groups called for full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of diverse women civil society and human rights defenders in the Doha talks. On 28th June 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) issued a statement urging the active and direct inclusion of women and girls in these discussions. However, on 30th June 2024, the two-day UN conference of special envoys on Afghanistan commenced with the notable absence of women and civil society representatives.

On 20th August 2024, Afghanistan's de facto Taliban leaders barred the United Nations-appointed special rapporteur on human rights, Richard Bennett, from entering the country. The rapporteur said that was “a step backwards” and “sends a concerning signal” about the Taliban’s engagement with the UN and the international community on human rights.

UN human rights experts voiced profound concern on 30th August 2024 over the Taliban's enactment of the "Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice." The law imposes severe restrictions on freedom of expression, including women singing or speaking outside their homes and bans on publishing content deemed contrary to their understanding of Sharia.

In recent months, activists have continued to be detained for propaganda and criticism of the Taliban while reports of torture and ill-treatment of women’s rights activists continue to surface. Academics continue to be targeted while journalists were arrested and media outlets shut down. Protests were documented and some protesters were injured by Taliban gunfire.

Association

Activists detained for propaganda and criticism of the Taliban

According to a report by human rights group Rawadari in August 2024 on the state of human rights in Afghanistan, there has been a significant increase in forced disappearances, torture resulting in death, arbitrary detention, and the implementation of cruel and inhumane punishments. The findings of this report show that during the first six months of 2024, at least 20 civil activists and human rights defenders, including nine women, were detained and imprisoned. These individuals were charged with propaganda against the Taliban and criticism of the group’s repressive policies regarding Afghan women.

Torture and ill-treatment of activists

An increasing number of reports suggest that women and girls who speak out against the oppressive Taliban regime in Afghanistan are subjected to sexual torture and cruel physical punishments when arrested. In July 2024, Lailuma Dawlatzai, an Afghan women's rights activist, said that while in Taliban prison, they cut her thighs with knives and sprinkled salt on her wounds.

Zarmina Paryani, a prominent women's rights defender revealed in July 2024 that when she was detained in 2022, the Taliban members had "stripped her and other women” in prison. Paryani stated that the Taliban had taken photos of her and the other women present while they were naked. In August 2024, another activist, Zholia Parsi, said that in 2023 she was detained in solitary confinement in a damp room for nearly two months and routinely interrogated and tortured for a confession.

Several female protesters and activists told The Guardian and Rukhshana Media in July 2024 that they had been abused and assaulted after being arrested for defending women's rights. Thirty-year-old Zarifa Yaqubi stated that she was detained for forty-one days in November 2022 after trying to organise a movement of Afghan women against the Taliban's repressive policies. "They gave me electric shocks and hit parts of my body with cables so that I wouldn't be able to appear in front of the camera tomorrow," she said. She added that she had been tortured into admitting to taking money from foreigners to protest against the Taliban.

The UN Special Rapporteur in his May 2024 report said he received information regarding torture and sexual violence directed against women held in detention, including those arrested while demonstrating.

Despite the severe risks to their safety, Afghan women continue to hold protests to condemn the Taliban government. Rukhshana Media has recorded at least 221 protests by women and girls in the last two years.

Arrest and attack on academic

On 20th July 2024, Taliban intelligence agents violently arrested university lecturer Mohammad Anwar Panahi in Kabul and took him to an unknown location. According to KabulNow, Panahi, who also serves as the head of the economics faculty at Aburayhan University, was detained in Kabul’s Pol-e-Sorkh neighbourhood. A photo sent to KabulNow shows the university lecturer with a bloodied face after he was severely beaten by the Taliban in Kabul before his arrest. The motive behind the university lecturer’s arrest remains unclear. However, the source mentioned that the Taliban had previously threatened him with arrest, accusing him of “collaborating with foreign media.”

The arrest is the latest targeting academics. University professor Mohammad Atef Daie was jailed in February 2024 and sentenced to one year in prison for his support for women’s rights. In 2023, university Professor Ismail Mashal was detained by the Taliban while he was handing out free books in the capital Kabul.

Expression

Arrests of journalists and closure of media outlets

In July 2024, Afghanistan Journalists Centre (AFJC) published a report on attacks on press freedom in the first half of 2024. Since January 2024, there have been at least 89 documented incidents of violence against journalists and media workers, including 60 incidents of threats and 29 arrests. AFJC added that Taliban authorities had shut down 17 media outlets in Nangarhar province alone.

According to a UNAMA report, Tamadon TV is at risk of suspension, the Taliban alleging that the broadcaster was affiliated with the Harakat-e-Islami political party, On 7th June 2024, the de facto Ministry of Justice announced the suspension of the channel, but at the time of writing the station is still operational.

In June 2024, the Taliban prohibited the broadcast of the privately owned radio station Kawoon Zhagh in the eastern province of Laghman, which had been operating for approximately two decades. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Taliban intelligence officers, along with officials from the provincial governor’s office and directorate of information and culture, raided the radio station in the city of Mehtarlam on 13th June 2024. The officials stopped broadcasting and expelled the station’s 20 staff before sealing and taking control of the building.

On 13th June 2024, Taliban intelligence officers detained Abdullah Danish, a freelance journalist, while he was traveling from the capital Kabul to Bagrami district. According to CPJ, he was questioned over a 3rd April 2024 report for the Khane Mawlana cultural centre that was critical of the Taliban’s education policies, and a 21st April 2024 Facebook post alleging the Taliban were using schools as military bases in Kapisa province. Danish was held in an unknown location and severely beaten, sustaining a head injury, before being released on 15th June 2024.

On 12th July 2024, Taliban security forces in Kandahar province arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned freelance journalist Mohammadyar Majroh in Kandahar province. The reasons for his arrest remain unclear. A source within the Taliban local administration stated that he was summoned and detained by the Kandahar court. He was previously arrested in February 2023 by the provincial branch of Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) while working as a reporter for TOLOnews in Kandahar.

Journalist Mohammad Ibrahim Mohtaj was detained while leaving his office on 27th July by agents of the Taliban’s provincial Directorate of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Mohtaj, a broadcast manager and presenter with the independent Millat Zhag radio station in the southern city of Kandahar, was transferred to an unknown location.

On 6th August 2024, the Afghanistan Journalist Support Organization (AJSO) highlighted concerns following the arbitrary arrest of journalist Aziz Ahmad Wafa by intelligence agents in Jalalabad, the capital city of Nangarhar. The journalist worked for the Taliban-controlled Radio Television of Afghanistan (RTA) for several years. He was sent to Nangarhar General Prison but the reason for his arrest was not disclosed.

Peaceful Assembly

Protests against the Taliban policies and abuses

Public rallies and demonstrations by women activists have been all but stamped out by Taliban brutality. The lack of larger gatherings highlights the chilling effect of the Taliban’s use of violence and arbitrary detentions at rallies. At the same time, other smaller protests have been recorded against Taliban policies and abuses. In some cases, protesters were injured.

Ahead of the Doha talks in June 2024, Afghan women held protests in different countries. In Afghanistan, on 13th June 2024, an indoor protest was held by an independent coalition of women in Takhar province calling on the world to support the people and not the Taliban.

Residents of Darayim district in the northeastern province of Badakhshan staged a protest against the Taliban on 3rd July 2024. The protest was sparked by the Taliban’s move to destroy poppy fields in one of the villages in Darayim district. Several protesters were injured by Taliban gunfire during the demonstration..

On 29th July 2024, there were reports of a protest against local Taliban members in a village in Jowzjan province. According to the reports, residents of the village of Pasteh Mazar in the Darzab district protested against Taliban harassment of women.

On 31st July 2024, there was a protest in front of the Taliban’s Ministry of Finance in Kabul. According to the information provided, a number of retired former government employees were protesting against the non-payment of their pensions since the Taliban take-over in August 2021.

On 28th August 2024, a group of truck drivers and merchants staged a protest at the Herat Airport in response to a significant increase in fees imposed by the Taliban at Herat customs. Protesters allege that the Taliban's gunfire during the demonstration resulted in at least one driver being injured.

On 29th July 2024, women held a small indoor protest in response to the Taliban’s new "Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice." They said that the de facto authorities will want to erase women from society but they will not be silenced them by this morality law