Afghanistan: Activists targeted, media restricted as women further silenced by the Taliban

Civic space in Afghanistan remains rated as ‘closed’. Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, 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 activists, journalists and others face severe restrictions, and activists have been arbitrarily arrested and detained for their criticism of the Taliban. Those who are detained are often denied access to urgent medical and legal assistance. 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 February 2025, civil society organisations and human rights advocates raised significant concerns about a draft proposal from the UN aimed at establishing a political settlement between the Taliban and the international community. Critics say it excluded women, civil society actors, and victims of human rights violations from the process but granted the Taliban tangible concessions while demanding little more than vague and unenforceable promises in return.

In March 2025, the abrupt and disruptive nature of the US government cancellation of USAID programmes resulted in significant shortfalls in financial support for programmes in Afghanistan. These substantial funding cuts have compelled the cessation of numerous lifesaving programmes, including safe houses and protection grants for at-risk human rights defenders (HRDs), LGBTQI individuals, and media organisations. Consequently, many civil society organisations and media outlets have been forced to suspend their activities and local civil society and human rights movements are increasingly vulnerable and at risk.

In the same month, the Independent Coalition of Afghan Women’s Protest Movements underscored the severe repression and systemic gender-based discrimination faced by Afghan women. The coalition highlighted that these women are being denied fundamental human rights, including access to employment, education, and opportunities for political and social engagement, thereby characterising the situation as the institutionalisation of 'gender apartheid' in Afghanistan.

Numerous civil society groups and advocacy groups have called upon the international community to formally recognise 'gender apartheid' and hold the Taliban accountable for its transgressions.

At the UN Human Rights Council in March 2025, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan issued his latest study on the Taliban’s so-called law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The law codifies, consolidates and adds to discriminatory policies imposed by the Taliban since seizing power in 2021.

In May 2025, Amnesty International said that over the last year the Taliban had arbitrarily arrested, forcible disappeared, tortured and ill-treated and extrajudicial executed former government employees, human rights defenders, journalists and critical voices. The Taliban also continued to attack and arrest journalists and restrict media freedom. Hundreds of prisoners were reportedly sentenced to death.

Human rights defenders and journalists deported from Pakistan who were awaiting relocation to a third country face a significant risk of persecution by the Taliban. The majority of these HRDs find themselves in a state of uncertainty, as the status of their resettlement applications with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other countries providing humanitarian visas remains unclear.

In recent months, the Taliban arrested an education and social activist, a cultural activist and poet and an Uzbek civil society activist. It has also dismissed an academic and arrested two prominent LGBTQ activists. The crackdown on press freedom has persisted and journalists have also been arrested and prosecuted. The Taliban has also imposed bans on the media against discussing political and economic issues as well as airing the voices of women.

Association

Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, numerous activists, protesters, human rights defenders, academics and poets have faced detention, torture, and even death throughout the country.

Activists arbitrarily arrested

On 24th February 2025, education activist Wazir Khan, 25, was arbitrarily arrested at his home in Butkhak, Kabul. Four Taliban officials tied his hands, blindfolded him, and took him to the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI).

Wazir Khan founded Today Child in 2022. The organisation relies on volunteers who travel to remote areas, teaching with rudimentary resources, with a particular focus on educating girls.

Amnesty International called for his immediate release, stating: “Wazir Khan has been peacefully promoting education for boys and girls in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have officially banned girls from attending secondary education. The Taliban de facto authorities must immediately and unconditionally release him.”

Shafiullah Athaee, a social activist, was detained by the Taliban on 11th February 2025, and his whereabouts remain unknown. According to Kabul Now, he was previously arrested by the Taliban two years ago and spent six months in custody.

Sayed Alam Hashemi, a cultural activist and poet, was arrested on 16th February 2025 and taken to the Taliban's Intelligence Directorate 40. While the reasons for his arrest are unknown, some sources suggest it may be related to his poetry.

The Taliban's continues to repress ethnic minorities in the country. Enayatullah Batash, an Uzbek civil society activist, was arrested on 17th February 2025 in Kunduz. He was reportedly beaten during his detention in front of his wife and children. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Abdul Wasi Almas, a former civil society activist who was working as a teacher at Rukha High School in Panjshir province, was arrested on 27th February 2025. Almas had previously promoted women's education and worked as a journalist and YouTuber during the republic government. He was summoned to the intelligence department in Panjshir Province, where he was arrested and taken to an unknown location.

Academic dismissed

On 23 March 2025, the Taliban's Ministry of Higher Education reportedly dismissed Mohammad Ismail Youn, a former professor of Pashto Language and Literature at Kabul University. His dismissal was reportedly due to a significant change in Afghanistan's academic landscape, especially at Kabul University, which shifted from intellectual growth to ideological conformity after the Taliban's takeover.

Youn vehemently condemned his dismissal by the Taliban and decried the radical transformation of Kabul University, asserting that it has been completely reduced to a Taliban-controlled madrassa. He revealed that since the Taliban’s takeover, over 600 university professors have fled Afghanistan, while another 200 who travelled abroad for further studies have not returned.

Two prominent LGBTQ activists arrested

On 20th March 2025, the Taliban arrested from Afghanistan: Maryam Ravish, a 19-year-old lesbian, and Maeve Alcina Pieescu, a 23-year-old trans woman. They had planned to escape Kabul on that same day, along with Maryam's partner, Parwen Hussaini, who is 20 years old. The three intended to travel safely to Iran on a Mahan Airlines flight, with the ultimate goal of reaching Europe. Parwen successfully boarded the flight; however, during a security check at the airport, Maryam and Maeve were detained by the Taliban’s intelligence unit.

LGBTQI Afghans and individuals who do not adhere to rigid gender norms in Afghanistan have faced an increasingly dire situation and severe threats to their safety and lives under the Taliban regime. According to the annual report published by Amnesty International in 2024, individuals identifying as LGBTI experienced escalating incidents of abuse and discrimination.

Expression

Ongoing crackdown on press freedom

On 2nd May 2025, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its annual report on global press freedom. Afghanistan is ranked 175th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index published by RSF, indicating a persistently severe situation for media under Taliban governance.

RSF noted that since the Taliban regained control in August 2021, the media landscape in Afghanistan has faced significant setbacks. Independent journalism is subject to severe restrictions, media pluralism has largely disappeared, and journalists - particularly women - experience targeted repression. Taliban authorities enforce stringent control over media content, effectively limiting the dissemination of information to state-approved narratives.

The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) documented a notable increase in violations against media and journalists, with incidents rising by 24 percent over the past year. The AFJC's report, published in March 2025, encompasses the period from March 2024 to March 2025 and outlines 181 cases of violations of media and journalist rights, comprising 131 threats and 50 arrests.

The report underscored that, among the documented threats, at least 22 involved the suspension or closure of media outlets, with 15 of these outlets remaining inactive. Among the detained journalists, 10 continue to be imprisoned, and four have received sentences ranging from two to three years.

Unprecedented restrictions on radio stations

In February 2025, The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) released a statement to mark World Radio Day. The media watchdog reported that at least seven radio stations had closed down in the past year, either by direct Taliban orders or as a result of the group’s restrictive policies.

Despite the increasing use of the internet and social media, radio remains one of the most accessible sources of information in Afghanistan.

In early February 2025, Taliban agents raided Radio Begum, a station run entirely by women that aired educational programmes for women and girls. The group seized its equipment and detained employees, accusing the station of violating media policies and collaborating with foreign TV channels. The station’s officials and media rights groups rejected these allegations.

Arrests and prosecution of journalists

Journalist Mahdi Ansari, who was sentenced in January 2025 to one year and six months in prison for "spreading propaganda" against the Taliban, remains in jail. He had been arrested in October 2024 in western Kabul and was reportedly convicted by the Taliban's primary court in Kabul based on content from his personal YouTube channel. Prior to his arrest, Ansari had worked for the Afghan News Agency.

In mid-February 2025, Taliban intelligence agents arrested and detained a local journalist named Ehsan Mahdavi in their detention centre in Nili, the provincial capital of Daikundi province, Afghanistan. He was accused of spreading propaganda against the regime.

On 27th February 2025, the Taliban reportedly re-arrested Mohammad Asif Faizyar, the Editor-in-Chief of Nedai Baloch Agency in the western city of Herat. Faizyar was released a few hours later. However, the reason for his arrest isn’t clear. He was previously arrested in August 2024 charged with failing to follow the Taliban’s media directives and released after five days in detention. Consequently, the media outlet was forced to shut down its operation.

Independent journalist Sayed Rashed Kashefi was detained by the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) in Kabul on 14th April 2025. He was summoned to the GDI’s Directorate of Media and Public Affairs under the pretext of retrieving confiscated equipment, which was taken in mid-March 2025 due to suspicions of his collaboration with Afghan exiled media.

Kashefi was formerly employed by The Kabul Times, a state-owned English-language publication, and is currently operating as an independent reporter focusing on current affairs in Kabul. In December 2021, he was detained and assaulted by the Taliban while conducting reporting activities in the city.

The Director of Radio Khushal, Sulaiman Rahil, was arrested by Taliban intelligence agents in Ghazni province on 5th May 2025 after highlighting the struggles of impoverished women and alleged insults from the provincial head of the Taliban-led National Radio and Television. He was sentenced to three months in jail.

On the same day, in Takhar province, Taliban authorities detained three journalists -Nasratullah Ebrahimi of Ariana News and freelancers Moneer Hadaf and Asadullah Timor. The journalists were taken into custody by the Taliban’s criminal investigations department, reportedly for their media activities, and have allegedly faced ill-treatment while detained.

On 14th May 2025, Amnesty International called for the release of journalist Hamid Farhadi who was arbitrarily arrested on 3rd September 2024 by Taliban forces from the Ministry of Interior in the capital. He was accused of collaborating with Etilaatroz, an independent newspaper that is currently operating in exile. He was sentenced to two years in prison, without any access to legal representation. On 28th March 2025, without explanation or prior notice, Farhadi was transferred to the notorious Bagram Prison.

Ban on media discussions related to political and economic issues

In February 2025, the Taliban's Ministry of Information and Culture issued a verbal directive in Kabul, banning the production and broadcast of discussions related to political and economic issues on local television. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Afghanistan Journalists Centre (AFJC) urged the Taliban to lift this ban on broadcasts.

CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi said: “The Taliban must allow Afghan media to operate independently. This latest move to censor discussion, reporting and debate of political and economic issues is yet another repressive measure that indicates the extreme measures the Taliban are taking to totally dismantle Afghanistan’s independent media.”

Ban on women’s voices in the media in Kandahar

In March 2025, the Taliban imposed a new set of media restrictions in Kandahar province, including a total ban on women’s voices and the mandatory use of honorific titles for the group’s supreme leader, according to a media watchdog.

The Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC) revealed in a statement that the Taliban’s Directorate of Information and Culture in Kandahar issued the directive on 17th March 2025, further tightening its grip on press freedoms in the region.

The new rules prohibit local radio stations from airing women’s voices in any form, including entertainment programmes. Outlets must also refer to the Taliban’s leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, as “His Excellency, Amir al-Mu’minin, may God protect him,” and use “Islamic Emirate” when mentioning the regime.

Ban on broadcasting images of living beings

On 9th June 2025, the Taliban expanded its ban on broadcasting images of living beings to Panjshir. In a statement on Monday, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) said the Taliban-appointed governor of Panjshir, Mohammad Agha Hakim, had ordered local media to stop publishing images of humans and animals. He warned outlets of legal consequences if they failed to comply.

This law had already been enacted in 18 other provinces: Daikundi, Faryab, Bamyan, Kunduz, Jawzjan, Zabul, Parwan, Herat, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Nimruz, Kandahar, Takhar, Badghis, Helmand, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Farah.

Peaceful assembly

Protests continue to defy restrictions and threats

Despite threats, harassment and criminalisation Afghan women persist in their demonstrations against the repressive policies enacted by the Taliban concerning women and girls.

In May 2025, the “Voice of Afghan Women” movement in exile appealed for global action against forced marriages and gender-based violence perpetrated by the Taliban, condemning these actions as crimes against humanity. Concurrently, there have been sustained protests by Afghan women, both domestically and internationally, who are actively opposing the Taliban's oppressive policies and advocating for their rights and freedoms.

Najibullah Watanyar, who was detained in December 2024, along with Izzatullah Rahimi, remains in detention. He was arrested after participating in a street protest advocating for an end to the oppression of women and the genocide of Hazaras in Afghanistan. After spending over 40 days in custody, Rahimi was eventually released; however, Watanyar continues to be held.