The Taliban has released Parisa Azada, a women’s rights activist, who was arrested by the group’s intelligence agents on November 14th.
Ms. Azada is a member of the Afghanistan Women’s Movement for Justice and Freedom based in Kabul, where she and her colleagues organized peaceful protests against the discriminatory treatment and deprivations experienced by women and girls under Taliban rule.
According to local sources speaking to KabulNow, Ms. Azada was released on Monday morning, December 25. Details about her health status and the circumstances surrounding her release by the regime remain undisclosed. Previously, the Taliban had released two other women’s rights activists, Neda Parwani and Zhulia Parsi, with conditions that prohibited them from engaging in media interviews and mandated weekly visits to local Taliban authorities.
The Taliban, since taking control of Afghanistan, has worked to strip away women’s hard-earned freedoms over the past two decades. The militant group believes that educating women goes against Islamic values, resulting in restrictions on attending schools beyond the sixth grade. Women are now mandated to wear a burqa, travel with a male companion, and have been banned from going to work. The relentless bans imposed by the Taliban have pushed many women and girls to their final option: organizing peaceful gatherings to advocate for justice and equality. In the first months following the takeover, the number of street protests and group demonstrations, mainly in Kabul, was growing and diversifying until Taliban security forces turned to violent means to disperse protestors and detain and torture many, including media workers who were providing coverage.
As the protestors faced pushback and increased fear of retaliation, protesters shifted gradually from streets to indoor and symbolic displays of disobedience and disagreement. This led many women protestors to go to underground safe houses while several women protestor’s movements were also formed before and during this time. However, most of the safe houses were soon identified by Taliban intelligence agents, and hundreds of women were beaten, arrested, and imprisoned while others went into further hiding and on the constant run.
There is at least one women’s rights activist, Manizha Seddiqi, who remains in Taliban custody. She is affiliated with the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women and was arrested in Kabul on September 24th. However, a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) suggests that there are other unnamed activists also being held by the Taliban. “Women have been arrested with family members, including small children. They are held in abusive conditions and sometimes tortured. If they’re released, the Taliban demand deeds to their family’s property, threatening to confiscate it if the woman continues her activism,” HRW said.
Human rights organizations and defenders have been vocally demanding the release of detained women rights defenders. On International Human Rights Day, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, urged the Taliban to release all detained human rights activists, especially the women activists apprehended since September 2023. He emphasized that nobody should face detention simply for advocating for human rights.
In its latest report on human rights in the country, the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed concern over the increasingly severe restrictions imposed on women by the Taliban. “The de facto authorities continue to arrest human rights defenders, particularly women’s rights activists and media workers, without disclosing reasons,” the report noted. UNAMA urged the Taliban to guarantee access to healthcare, family visits, and legal representation for all detainees. “UNAMA reiterates that freedom of opinion and expression must be upheld, in accordance with international human rights obligations,” the organization stated.
