Taliban’s Ministry Defends Arrests of Herat Protesters Amid Rising Human Rights Concerns
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced during a visit to Herat that its forces had arrested several individuals accused of “promoting immodesty, causing unrest, and spreading negative content.” Khalid Hanafi claimed these actions were carried out within the framework of “enforcing Sharia law” and stated that “malicious actors” aim to target the ministry.
These remarks come after the ministry’s forces launched an operation in Herat in mid-June, detaining dozens of women for failing to adhere to the group’s dress code. The widespread arrests prompted residents of the Jebrail area of Herat to take to the streets on June 9 in protest against the detention of women.
Public demonstrations were met with a crackdown by Taliban forces, resulting in the deaths of at least two teenage boys. Following this, arrests of protesters continued on a large scale, raising serious concerns about the state of civil rights in the province.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed the detention of women in Herat, reporting that at least 30 women were arrested on June 27 and 28 for not wearing the hijab. According to UNAMA, hundreds more have faced verbal threats.
These events have drawn reactions from human rights organizations and international bodies both inside and outside the country, escalating worries over increasing restrictions on women.
On Monday, July 13, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice released excerpts from Khalid Hanafi’s speech in Herat. In the speech, he urged the media to serve as a “platform” to first implement the ministry’s law on themselves and then through the media on the public.
Hanafi also claimed that human rights in Afghanistan are guaranteed based on Islamic principles and argued that the international community should focus on countries where, he asserted, basic human rights are violated. Downplaying the arrests of women in Herat, he questioned why the killing of women and children in other countries does not receive as much attention as the hijab issue in Afghanistan—remarks made amid widespread criticism of the Taliban’s recent arrests and suppression of protests.
