The United Nations has expressed concern about the Taliban’s violence against Afghan protesters and journalists and has called on the militant group to end the use of force and arbitrary detention of those exercising their right to peaceful assembly.
In one Statement on FridayUN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said: “Peaceful protesters in various provinces of Afghanistan have faced an increasingly violent response from the Taliban over the past four weeks, including the use of live ammunition, batons and whips.”
“As Afghan women and men take to the streets at this time of great uncertainty in their country to peacefully insist that their human rights, including the right of women to work, freedom of movement, education and political participation, be respected, it is crucial that these are respected in power, listen to their voices, “added Ravina Shamdasani.
The UN also took note of the Taliban’s order banning “unauthorized gatherings” and Internet blocking in certain areas of Kabul.
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“The protests have been going on since August 15 and continued until Wednesday evening’s instructions to ban illegal gatherings. Reports indicate that the Taliban are increasingly resorting to violence or reporting against those involved in the demonstrations,” said Ravina Shamdasani.
Ravina Shamdasani also said that journalists involved in reporting protests should not face reprisals or other harassment, even if a gathering is declared illegal or dissolved.
TALIBAN CRACKDOWN AGAINST JOURNALISTS
Several protests have taken place in Kabul since the Taliban took control of the capital on August 15 Taliban announced their all-male cabinetwhich led the Afghan women to take to the streets in Kabul.
The women reportedly urged the Taliban to honor their commitments to uphold women’s rights and called for women to be appointed to high-level government positions.
What followed was a brutal crackdown on the female protesters when the Taliban used sticks and whips to disperse their gathering. Two local journalists, Tagi Daryabi and Neamatullah Naqdi, were beaten during the protests and pictures of their injured bodies went viral on social media.
According to an Associated Press report, Taliban militants tied the two journalists’ hands and took them to a police station in Kabul’s third district.
Tagi Daryabi, 22, told the Associated Press that the first thing he heard on the station were screams from a nearby room. Taliban fighters later beat him and his colleague, and at one point he was beaten continuously for 10 minutes.
“I couldn’t think. I didn’t know if I would be killed or survive, ”Tagi Daryabi told the Associated Press.
However, Tagi Daryabi said he would return to the streets to report on another protest. “It is very dangerous for me to oppose them. The Taliban say the media is free, but how can they say that if they beat me and my colleagues? ”He said. “We can’t just stop working.”
Following the formal withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan on August 31, hundreds of Afghans are still waiting in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif to leave the country. Many of them have worked for the US and German military and fear that they will be forgotten.
(With contributions from the Associated Press)
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