World

Taliban free Afghan activist arrested after campaigning for girls’ education

Matiullah Wesa, pictured reading to students in the Spin Boldak district in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, has been freed from prison (Siddiqullah Khan/AP)
Matiullah Wesa, pictured reading to students in the Spin Boldak district in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, has been freed from prison (Siddiqullah Khan/AP) Matiullah Wesa, pictured reading to students in the Spin Boldak district in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, has been freed from prison (Siddiqullah Khan/AP)
By Associated Press Reporters

The Taliban have freed an Afghan activist who campaigned for the education of girls, according to a local nonprofit organisation.

Matiullah Wesa was arrested seven months ago and spent 215 days in prison, according to the group Pen Path.

Mr Wesa has been outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school and repeatedly called on the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan to reverse its bans on female education.

Since their takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have barred girls from school beyond the equivalent of year six. Last December, they banned women from going to universities.

Afghanistan is the only country in the world with restrictions on female education.

Pen Path gave no further details on Mr Wesa’s release or his condition.

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, welcomed the news about Mr Wesa.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Bennett also called for the “immediate and unconditional release of all Afghanistan human rights defenders who are arbitrarily detained for standing up for their own rights & the human rights of others”.

Amnesty International said Mr Wesa should never have been jailed for promoting girls’ rights to education.

“The Taliban de-facto authorities must release human rights defenders and women protesters Rasool Parsi, Neda Parwani, Zholia Parsi and Manizha Sediqi and all others who are unfairly kept behind bars for standing up for equality and denouncing repression,” the rights group said on X.

Prior to his arrest, Mr Wesa and others from Pen Path launched a door-to-door campaign to promote girls’ education.

“We have been volunteering for 14 years to reach people and convey the message for girls’ education,” Mr Wesa said in social media posts. “During the past 18 months we campaigned house-to-house in order to eliminate illiteracy and to end all our miseries.”

Mr Wesa’s brother Attaullah said Taliban forces surrounded the family home in late March, beat family members, and confiscated Matiullah’s mobile phone.