A prominent Afghan university professor who openly criticized the Taliban’s strict governance has been arrested in Kabul, a spokesperson for the government said.
Professor Faizullah Jalal has made several appearances on TV talk shows since the former US-backed government was ousted in August, condemning the Taliban for the worsening fiscal extremity and criticizing them for ruling by force.
Since returning to power, the Taliban have cracked down on dissent, strongly dispersing women’s rights demurrers and briefly detaining several Afghan intelligencers.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid twittered that Jalal had been detained on Saturday over statements he made on social media in which he was “ trying to instigate people against the system and was playing with the quality of the people”.
“ He has been arrested so that others do not make an analogous senseless commentary in the name of being a professor or scholar that harm the quality of others,” he added.
Mujahid participated screenshots of tweets he claimed had been posted by Jalal, which said the Taliban intelligence chief was a stooge of Pakistan, and that the new government considers Afghans as “ burros”.
In one TV appearance, Jalal called Taliban spokesperson Mohammad Naeem who was also sharing — a “ shin”, a grave personality in Afghanistan.
Clips of his passionate review went viral on social media, sparking concern he risked Taliban retaliation.
Jalal’s woman Massouda, who formerly stood as Afghanistan’s first woman seeker for the administration, posted on Facebook that her hubby had been arrested by Taliban forces and detained in an unknown position.
“Dr. Jalal has fought and spoken out for justice and the public interest in all his conditioning pertaining to mortal rights,” she said.
A long-time professor of law and political wisdom at Kabul University, Jalal has long had a character as a critic of Afghanistan’s leaders.
On Twitter, rights group Amnesty International condemned the arrest of the speaker “ for exercising his freedom of expression and criticizing the Taliban”, calling for his immediate and unconditional release.
Professor Faizullah Jalal was arrested today in Kabul reportedly for making allegations against govt departments, a security source said, adding Jalal is now being interrogated by the intelligence dept. Jalal’s family confirmed his arrest. Officials have not yet commented. pic.twitter.com/MCJqmsqgrO
— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) January 8, 2022
The Taliban have formed an each-manly press made up entirely of members of the group, and nearly simply of ethnical Pashtuns.
They’ve further confined women’s rights to work and study, driving wide transnational commination.
