Sources have confirmed to KabulNow that agents from the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI detained Sultan Ali Ziayee, a civil society activist and the head of Rawzana Omid Social Organisation, on Saturday in the Dashti-e-Barchi area of Kabul.
According to our sources, Ziayee was meeting members of his organisation to discuss the latest round of restrictions on women’s rights imposed by the Taliban.
The Taliban leadership issued orders banning women from universities and working as aid workers in late December 2022. Both bans ignited global outrage and major international aid agencies suspended their operations, warning they could not deliver aid without their female staff working. The group has hitherto refused to reverse its decisions, with its official defending the ban as “necessary to prevent mixing of genders” and “protecting our women’s dignity and honour.”
