HERAT, AFGHANISTAN – Taliban morality police have arrested a Shia cleric in western Herat province on Monday, local sources reported.
Ghulam Hassan Fasihi, the imam of Khadija Kubra Mosque in the predominantly Shia Hazara neighborhood of Haji Abbas, was detained inside the mosque by agents of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Residents of the area attempted to negotiate Fasihi’s release the following day but were turned away. A separate source confirmed on Tuesday that Fasihi remains in Taliban custody.
One resident told KabulNow that Taliban authorities justified the arrest by accusing the cleric of sheltering migrants recently deported from Iran and possessing religious books other than the Qur’an in the mosque. The Taliban reportedly stated that “only the Qur’an should be present in mosques.”
The arrest comes amid a wider pattern of repression against Afghanistan’s Shia sect, which the Taliban do not recognize as part of orthodox Islam, based on their rigid interpretation of Sunni Hanafi jurisprudence.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have removed Shia religious content from school curricula and imposed severe restrictions on religious practices, including annual Muharram commemorations and other traditional Shia ceremonies.
These restrictions are often justified on vague “security” grounds.
Shia clerics and scholars have frequently been targeted, with several arrested or harassed by Taliban authorities in provinces such as Herat, Bamiyan, and Daikundi, areas with significant Shia populations. In some cases, the Taliban have raided mosques, confiscated Shia religious texts, and banned public displays of mourning associated with the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, a central event in Shia Islam.
Human rights groups have repeatedly raised alarms over the Taliban’s treatment of religious minorities, including Shia Hazaras, who have long faced systemic discrimination and targeted violence in Afghanistan.
