Afghanistan: Women Human Rights Defenders Arrested by the Taliban Must Be Immediately Released

Nov 14, 2022 | Amnesty International
View Original

Responding to the arrests of at least three prominent women human rights defenders Zarifa Yaqoobi, Farhat Popalzai and Humaira Yusuf and their colleagues by the Taliban in the last ten days, Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s South Asia Campaigner, said: “The recent wave of arrests of women human rights defenders in Afghanistan is yet another attempt to quell all forms of peaceful protests and any dissent against the Taliban’s oppressive policies that violate human rights, particularly of women and girls. Such arrests will no doubt increase the environment of fear and reprisal in a continuing system of repression that goes unchecked.