The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Amnesty International on Friday called for the immediate release of six staff members of a local Afghan nonprofit who have been detained by Taliban authorities, warning that their arrests are part of a broader campaign to silence critical voices and restrict civic space in Afghanistan.
The six staff members of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation have been held in Kabul since July 18, Amnesty said in a statement posted on X. The organization described their detention as arbitrary and urged the Taliban de facto authorities to release them immediately.
“Amid the Taliban’s ongoing assault on human rights and civic space, the arbitrary detention” of the six staff members is “deeply alarming,” Amnesty said.
Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, also called for their release. Bennett said Friday that the six employees had been detained for 21 days without being formally charged or brought before a court.
“It’s 21 days since six staff of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation were arbitrarily detained in Kabul with no charges brought against them in court,” Bennett wrote on X. “I am seriously concerned and urge their immediate release.”
The detentions come amid a sweeping crackdown by Taliban authorities on civil society, independent voices and the rights of women and girls since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
The Taliban have imposed some of the world's most extensive restrictions on women and girls. Girls and women have been barred from secondary schools and universities, while women have been pushed out of many jobs and prevented from participating fully in public life. Authorities have also imposed restrictions on women's movement and access to public spaces and services.
The restrictions have drawn widespread condemnation from the United Nations and international human rights organizations, which have warned that the Taliban's policies are systematically denying women and girls their fundamental rights.
The Taliban have defended their policies as being in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture.
The detentions of the NGO workers also underscore the increasingly difficult environment for Afghan civil society organizations. Human rights groups have accused Taliban authorities of intimidating activists, journalists and other critics and of restricting the ability of organizations to operate independently.
Neither the Taliban nor its officials immediately responded to the calls from Amnesty International and Bennett for the release of the six workers.
The Women and Children Legal Research Foundation is a local nongovernmental organization focused on legal and rights-related issues affecting women and children in Afghanistan.
