The Director and Deputy Managing Director of Asia and Pacific Department at the European External Action Service, Paola Pampaloni, has called for the immediate release of Parisa Mubariz, an Afghan women’s right activist, and her brother from Taliban detention.
“Their voice asking for women education and human dignity should be heard and not repressed #letafghanistangirlslearn,” she said in a tweet today.
The European Union Delegation in Afghanistan also called for their release.
“Raising one’s voice is every citizen’s right. We urged Taliban to release them immediately and unconditionally,” said Raffaella Iodice, Chargée d’Affaires a.i. – Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Union to Afghanistan, said in another tweet.
The Taliban in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Takhar arrested Mubarez and her brother on Saturday. She is founding member of the Women’s Right to Protest Movement of Takhar, who have been protesting against the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan for over a year.
The UN Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has also condemned the arrest and called for their “immediate and unconditional release.”
And Human Rights Watch (HRW) Afghanistan Researcher, Fereshta Abbasi, said that “The right to peaceful assembly is a basic human right, and Human Rights Watch calls on the Taliban to release her immediately.”
Afghan women and girls have repeatedly held indoor and outdoor protest rallies in response to the Taliban’s increasing restriction on women’s rights. The group, however, despite international pressure, has only grown more violent in suppressing women’s rights protests and has imposed more restrictions.
