On the fifth day of the holy month of Ramadan, Matiullah Wesa, an advocate for education for girls and women in Afghanistan, went to a neighborhood mosque in Kabul for asr (evening) prayers. As the 30-year-old left the mosque with his younger brother, Samiullah, he was surrounded by a group of armed men who said they came from the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence.
“When my brother Samiullah asked them for their IDs, they showed and took their guns instead [Matiullah] gone,” Attaullah Wesa, Matiullah’s older brother, told Al Jazeera.
The next morning, Samiullah, 24, was also detained along with another brother, Wali Mohammad, 39, when members of Taliban security raided their home in Kabul. Attaullah escaped arrest when he went into hiding.
“They beat my brothers and also took our devices such as phones and laptops,” Attaullah, 37, said from an undisclosed location.
Matiullah’s arrest on Monday has alarmed activists. The United Nations has called on Taliban authorities to disclose his whereabouts and allow him access to legal representation.
“We are alarmed by the continued arbitrary arrests and detentions of civil society activists and media workers in Afghanistan, particularly those targeted by those who speak out against de facto authorities’ discriminatory policies that restrict women’s and girls’ access to education. , work and most other areas of public and daily life,” UN human rights spokesman Jeremy Laurence said in a statement Wednesday.
Taliban critic slams girls’ education
Matiullah has been a critic of Taliban restrictions on education for girls and women and has repeatedly called for the ban on their education to be reversed.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, secondary schools for girls remain closed and universities were banned from women in December as part of the group’s fight against women’s rights.
“We knew something like this would happen sooner or later,” Attaullah said, referring to Matiullah’s arrest. “If you fight for people’s fundamental rights, such a consequence is possible.”
Matiullah has been the face of an education organization called Pen Path, founded by the Wesa brothers in 2009 to improve and promote access to education throughout Afghanistan, including in remote areas affected by decades of conflict.
The Wesa siblings traveled on motorcycles to the remotest parts of the war-torn country, carrying mobile libraries, distributing books and campaigning on the importance of education.
Their arrests, seen as part of the crackdown on dissent, have drawn criticism from Afghans and the international community.
“The Taliban first started abusing, kidnapping and detaining female protesters,” said Sahar Fetrat, an Afghan researcher with Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division. “Now they have started harassing and abusing men who join peaceful activism.”
“The Taliban are afraid of Afghan men and women fighting together for a better Afghanistan,” she told Al Jazeera.
Arbitrary arrests and detentions
The Wesa brothers are just the latest in a series of arrests by the Taliban targeting civil society activists and protesters who have spoken out against the closure of secondary schools and universities for girls and women in the country.
In its most recent quarterly report, released in February, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented 28 cases of arbitrary arrests and detentions of civil society actors and human rights defenders over the past three months.
At least three female protesters, identified as Roqiya Sai, Fatima Mohammadi and Malalai Hashemi, were arrested on Sunday after participating in demonstrations in Kabul demanding girls’ secondary schools reopen.
The women were released the next day, but several other activists arrested earlier have been detained longer and allegedly tortured and ill-treated by Taliban officials.
Tamim, another Afghan activist who has requested his name be changed because he fears repercussions from the authorities, says he was detained and beaten for attending International Women’s Day celebrations.
“The intelligence officer came to our house and put a black bag over my head and took me to their unit,” Tamim said. “They kept me there for four days and during that time they didn’t tell my family where I was.”
“I was severely beaten and tortured every day,” he said. “They know no mercy.”
Tamim, a prominent human rights activist since the days of the previous Western-backed Afghan government, shared photos of his injuries with Al Jazeera. “Even talking to you about it now brings tears to my eyes,” he said.
Tamim’s family was eventually notified of his arrest, but he was held for a week before being released on bail.
Taliban defends the arrest
While the Taliban has not commented on the other arrests, senior Taliban leader and spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has discussed Matiullah Wesa’s case. He told local media that Matiullah had been arrested for organizing rallies and inciting the public against the Taliban system.
In another interview with the Voice of America, Mujahid accused the Wesa brothers of “illegal activities” without providing any details.
Al Jazeera reached out to Abdul Haq Hammad, the director of publications for the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Hammad said in a tweet on Wednesday in a clear reference to Matiullah: “His actions were suspicious and the system has the right to ask such people for explanations.”
Attaullah said the gunmen who raided the Wesa family’s home in Kabul questioned them about their work with Pen Path.
“They were angry about our campaigns for girls’ education, but they also questioned my family about the foreigners we regularly interact with as part of our advocacy efforts,” he said.
Matiullah had recently returned from a trip to Europe before his arrest.
‘They asked my brother from which embassy we get money. They were also angry about our use of the Afghan national flag,” Attaullah said, referring to the tricolor flag adopted by the previous republic government instead of the Taliban’s white flag.