KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban authorities in Herat province, western Afghanistan, have detained two Shia clerics and taken them to an undisclosed location, according to local sources.
The clerics, Mohammad Akbari, the former head of the Ulema Council in the Hazara-Shia populated Jibril district, and Mahram Hussain Azimi, the imam of the Sayyid al-Shuhada Mosque, were arrested from the area on Saturday evening, November 2.
The reason for their arrest remains unclear, and local Taliban authorities have not yet provided any comments on the matter.
According to sources, the efforts of tribal elders and religious scholars to secure the release of these clerics from Taliban custody have not been successful.
This is not the first time the Hazara-Shia community, including their clerics, has faced mistreatment by the Taliban. Since their return to power, there have been numerous reports of the Taliban arresting, detaining, and, in some cases, torturing members of this community and other religious minorities in Afghanistan.
Furthermore, the Taliban, despite their initial claims that Shia Muslims were free to practice their beliefs, have since imposed numerous restrictions on their religious practices, which critics argue constitute a crackdown on religious freedom.
Amnesty International stated in its report released in April that under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, ethnic groups, religious minorities, and members of the LGBT community face severe discrimination, increasing marginalization, and prejudice.
The international rights group highlighted that in Afghanistan, religious minorities such as Shia, Sikhs, Christians, Ahmadiyyas, and Ismailis continue to face discrimination, as the Taliban ensures that formal religious teaching is exclusively based on the Sunni sect of Islam.
“The Taliban excluded Shia jurisprudence from the education system so that religious teaching was exclusively based on the Sunni sect of Islam,” Amnesty International said. “Restrictions on religious events and celebrations were imposed citing security reasons. These included restrictions on the Ashura commemoration in July, which is mainly observed by Shia Muslims,” it added.
