Photo: Aleksandara Mostovaja via Twitter

Campaigners mark captive journalist Morteza Behboudi’s birthday outside Afghan embassy in Paris

Aleksandra Mostovaja, the wife of French-Afghan journalist, Morteza Behboudi, who has been in Taliban detention since January, and a group of his colleagues and friends held rally outside the Afghanistan embassy in Paris on Monday.

Marking Morteza Behboudi’s 29th birthday, the group carried balloons and placards demanding his release.

Aleksandra Mostovaja said in tweet that her husband had been denied his “rightful freedom” and that the Afghan embassy in Paris was “closest place to Kabul” to demand an end to his captivity.

https://twitter.com/aleks_mostovaja/status/1650437621951221760?s=61&t=5ASMs4rtZGD2Bn9VK1AN6g

A day before Behboudi’s birthday and Eid al-Fitr on 21 April, Aleksandra Mostovaja said that she was “very concerned” about her husband’s health and wellbeing.

Mortaza Behboudi was detained Taliban intelligence agents on January 7 in Kabul after arriving in the country for a journalistic assignment. The group has accused him of spying. And despite calls by human rights organisations and the UN, the Taliban has refused to release him.