A woman in Afghanistan has been forcibly removed from her home, the latest in a series of reported Taliban arrests of women’s rights activists.
Mursal Ayar was arrested at her residence in Kabul, the capital, on Wednesday, according to a source.
According to the BBC, Ayar is the Taliban’s sixth women kidnap victim in recent weeks.
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The Taliban hasn’t said anything about Ayar’s disappearance, but they have previously denied arresting the other activists.
Parwana Ibrahim, Tamana Paryani, and Paryani’s three sisters, Zarmina, Shafiqa, and Karima, have been missing since January 19.
The purported incarceration of women in Afghanistan has prompted widespread outrage online and raised concerns among human rights organisations for weeks.
In mid-January, the activists took part in peaceful rallies in the capital, demanding that women be given work, education, and political rights under the new Taliban regime.
Paryani later shared a video on social media showing armed men entering her apartment building a few days later.
“Help, the Taliban have come to my house,” she said before the video ended.
In a previous interview with the BBC, Suhai Shaheen, who hopes to become the Taliban’s ambassador to the UN, accused Paryani of “making fake scenes and shooting films in order to seek asylum abroad”.
According to the UN, Ibrahim’s brother-in-law was also kidnapped while the two were travelling in Kabul.
On Saturday, the UN’s human rights office expressed its “grave concern” about the ongoing disappearance of people linked to recent women’s rights marches.
“We are gravely concerned for their well-being and safety” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Tuesday.
“The lack of clear information on the location and well-being of these and other individuals, perpetuates a climate of fear and uncertainty”, she added.
The UN highlighted that the Taliban had declared an investigation into the women’s disappearance on Saturday, but warned that further information was needed.
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They also said that the claims of missing women revealed “a pattern of arbitrary arrests and detentions” in Afghanistan, as well as torture and maltreatment of civil rights activists, journalists, and former government officials.
The UN urged the Taliban authorities to “send clear messages to their rank-and-file that there must be no reprisals against people who demonstrate peacefully and exercise their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”.
Afghanistan has become the only country in the world to officially prohibit schooling based on gender under Taliban rule, a key stumbling block in the Taliban’s desire for legitimacy and the removal of international sanctions against the group.
Women’s regular rallies raising awareness of the issue are considered as a major cause of shame for the organisation.
