A women's rights group in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, said on October 24 that one of its members has spent a month in detention on unknown charges, the latest sign of a severe crackdown by the ruling Taliban militants on activists fighting against official restrictions on almost every aspect of their lives.
Munizha Siddiqi was arrested on September 24, the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women said, becoming the third member of the group to be detained. The report of her detention comes after the detentions of Neda Parwani and Zholya Parsi, also members of the group, who were arrested on September 19.
“Their only crime is seeking justice against the draconian Taliban policies," Laila Baseem, a group member, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
The Islamist Taliban regained power in August 2021 after a two-decade insurgency against the Western-backed government and have deeply restricted the rights and freedoms of women and girls.
Last month, the UN rights chief, Volker Turk, accused the Taliban of a "shocking level of oppression" of women and girls and said human rights in the country were in a state of collapse.
Hundreds of Afghan women have been detained by the Taliban and Baseem said that, while the detention of some of her colleagues came to light recently, others have been languishing in prison without being noticed.
“Some time ago, the Taliban arrested approximately eight girls, and some of them have not been in contact with their families,” Baseem said, adding that the families of some detained or disappeared activists are reluctant to make their ordeal public because they fear attracting attention.
The Taliban didn't respond to repeated Radio Azadi requests to talk about the arrests of Afghan women activists and its hard-line government has refused to confirm their detention.
Upon seizing power, the Taliban gave assurances that it would not return to the infamously brutal rule it employed while first in power from 1996 to 2001.
Since the takeover, the group has banned women from education, employment, and public life with few exceptions. Women are also required to observe a strict Islamic dress code and are required to travel with male guardians. They have been deprived of leisure and banned from parks and public baths in policies rooted in the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic law.
In its latest report on human rights in the country, the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the Taliban restrictions against women are becoming increasingly worse.
“The de facto authorities continue to arrest human rights defenders, particularly women's rights activists and media workers, on unknown grounds,” the report noted.