KABUL (AFP) – Four women activists in Afghanistan have been released by the country’s “de facto authorities” after going missing weeks ago, the United Nations said Sunday.
Tamana Zaryabi Paryani, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, Zahra Mohammadi and Mursal Ayar went missing after participating in an anti-Taliban rally, but the Taliban -- whose government is still not recognized by any country -- had consistently denied detaining them.
“After a long period of uncertainty about their whereabouts and safety, the four ‘disappeared’ Afghan women activists, as well as their relatives who also went missing, have all been released by the de facto authorities,” the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Twitter.
AFP reported the release of Ibrahimkhel on Friday. She went missing along with Paryani on January 19, days after taking part in a rally in Kabul calling for women’s right to work and education.
Weeks later, Mohammadi and Ayar went missing. Some relatives of the four women protesters had also gone missing.
Shortly before she disappeared, footage of Paryani was shared on social media showing her in distress, warning of Taliban militants at her door.
Since storming back to power in August, the Taliban have cracked down on dissent by forcefully dispersing women’s rallies, detaining critics and often beating local journalists covering unsanctioned protests.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had told AFP in an interview recently that the authorities had the right “to arrest and detain dissidents or those who break the law”, after the government banned unsanctioned protests soon after coming to power.
The Taliban have promised a softer version of the harsh rule that characterized their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
But provincial authorities have imposed several restrictions on women and have issued regular guidelines on how they should live.
The new authorities have effectively barred women from working in several government sectors and most girls’ secondary schools remain shut.
The Taliban have also issued an order that women cannot travel between cities and towns unless accompanied by a close male relative.
They have put up posters in many shops across Kabul and in other cities encouraging women to wear the all-covering burqa.