KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban has released Manizha Sediqi, a women’s rights activist who was arrested from her home in Kabul last September, local sources confirmed.
A member of the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women, of which Ms. Sediqi was a member, confirmed to KabulNow that she was released on Saturday, April 6. This release was reportedly in accordance with a pardoning order from the Taliban’s supreme leader, issued on the occasion of Eid-al-Fiter, a Muslim festival.
Earlier Today, the Taliban Supreme Court announced that based on Akhundzada’s recent order, around 2,855 people have been pardoned. The announcement specified that around 406 people, including 40 women, were released from Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the eastern outskirts of Kabul.
Among those released was Sultan Ali Jawadi, a local journalist and the manager of Radio Nasim, a local radio station in central Daikundi province. Jawadi had been arrested last October on charges of “propagating” against the regime.
Laila Basim, a member of the movement, told KabulNow that she had personally spoken with Manizha Sediqi, who is now reunited with her family.
Ms. Sediqi has been actively involved in advocating for the human rights of women and girls in the country.
The movement has organized many outdoor and indoor peaceful protests in Kabul and many other provinces, calling on the Taliban to end the discriminatory treatment and deprivation of women and girls in the country.
In February 2024, a Taliban court in Kabul sentenced Ms. Sediqi to two years in prison without disclosing the charges against her. However, according to Laila Basim, the Taliban accused Ms. Sediqi of burning a photo of the regime’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Since Ms. Sediqi’s detention, numerous Afghan and international human rights groups, including Amnesty International and the Washington-based rights group Freedom Now, have been demanding her immediate release.
Amnesty International penned a letter to the Taliban’s Director of Intelligence, Abdul Haq Wasiq, urging for the immediate and unconditional release of Ms. Sediqi.
Both the international rights group and her family members had voiced concerns regarding her well-being, highlighting that she was in critical condition and vulnerable to ill-treatment while in Taliban custody.
However, during a press conference organized by the Taliban last week, Ms. Sediqi denied allegations of ill treatment and torture in Taliban custody, wishing to be released before Eid.
“I simply wish to reunite with my family before Eid. I urge them to release me as I am innocent,” emphasized Ms. Seddeqi.
The rights groups, however, said that the Taliban had compelled Ms. Sediqi into a “coerced confession,” citing the regime’s history of misleading the public.
