Afghan children in the outskirts of Fayzabad district in Badakhshan province on March 27, 2023. OMER ABRAR / AFP
Matiullah Wesa, head of the PenPath organization was arrested at the exit of a mosque and arrested by “men in two vehicles”.
The founder of a school for girls in Afghanistan was arrested on Monday, the UN announced on Tuesday, asking the Taliban authorities to clarify the reasons for his arrest.
Matiullah Wesa, head of the PenPath organization andgirls’ education advocate, was arrested in Kabul on Monday“, indicated in a tweet the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Manua), which asked the authorities to “clarify his whereabouts, the reasons for his arrest and ensure that he has access to legal representation and contact with his family“.
Literacy in rural areas
Matiullah Wesa’s brother confirmed his arrest, adding that he had been arrested leaving a mosque after prayers on Monday evening. “Matiullah had finished his prayers and was leaving the mosque when he was stopped by men in two vehicles“Samiullah Wesa told AFP. “When Matiullah asked them for their identity cards, they beat him and took him by force“.
30-year-old Afghan education activist Matiullah Wesa is the founder and chairman of the organization Pen Path. He established 18 libraries and helped reopen many closed ones in rural and remote areas of Afghanistan. He launched a campaign to distribute books with the aim of educating community members in rural areas.
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Girls’ education is a sensitive subject in Afghanistan. Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban authorities have gradually excluded women from public life. Many of them have lost their jobs in the public sectors and since November, they also no longer have the right to go to parks, gymnasiums or even public baths. They are also prohibited from traveling without being accompanied by a male relative and must cover themselves fully when leaving their homes.
Condemnation of Paris
France condemned on Tuesday the arrest by the Taliban of the founder of a network of schools open to girls in Afghanistan, Matiullah Wesa, and called “to his immediate release“. “It supports the steps in this direction of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Manua)“Said Anne-Claire Legendre, spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“This decision is in addition to the countless violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of which the Taliban are guilty against women and girls, who have been deprived of secondary school for more than a year, but also of access to universities.“, she also lamented. She adds that “no society can develop positively by denying women’s rights“.