ISLAMABAD — The Taliban have arrested a nicely-identified Afghan trend design and 3 of his colleagues, accusing them of disrespecting Islam and the Quran, the Muslim holy e book, according to films introduced by Afghanistan’s new rulers.
Ajmal Haqiqi — acknowledged for his trend exhibits, YouTube clips and modeling gatherings — appeared handcuffed in movies posted on Twitter by the Taliban intelligence company on Tuesday.
In one particular widely circulated and contentious movie, Haqiqi is found laughing as his colleague Ghulam Sakhi — who is acknowledged to have a speech impediment that he takes advantage of for humor — recites verses of the Quran in Arabic, in a comical voice.
Immediately after the arrests, the Taliban launched a movie of Haqiqi and his colleagues, noticed standing in mild brown jail uniforms and apologizing to the Taliban government and religious students.
The online video was accompanied by a tweet in the Dari language, saying: “No just one is permitted to insult Quranic verses or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.”
Later Wednesday, Amnesty Intercontinental produced a statement, urging the Taliban to “immediately and unconditionally” launch Haqiqi and his colleagues.
Amnesty has documented various arbitrary detentions by the Taliban in Afghanistan, normally accompanied by coerced statements in an try to stifle dissent in the place and discourage other folks from expressing their sights.
Samira Hamidi, Amnesty’s South Asia campaigner, denounced the arrests and claimed that by detaining “Haqiqi and his colleagues and coercing them into apologizing,” the Taliban have carried out “a blatant assault on the suitable to freedom of expression.” Her statement also condemned the Taliban’s “ongoing censorship of individuals who would like to freely specific their ideas.”
In Kabul, Taliban officials did not promptly reply to requests for comment and it was not crystal clear what steps the design and his colleagues deal with under the Taliban-run judiciary.
The families of the arrested versions could also not straight away be reached for remark.
Because they seized electricity final August in Afghanistan all through the final weeks of the U.S. troop pullout from the region, the Taliban have imposed strict steps and edicts according to their harsh interpretation of Islamic legislation, especially curbing the rights of gals and minorities.
The moves have elevated international worries that the radical Islamic group intends to rule as it did the last time the Taliban held electrical power in Afghanistan, in the late 1990s. The Taliban look at criticism and nearly anything perceived as disrespectful of Islam as a punishable criminal offense.
Amnesty reported that given that their takeover, the Taliban “have been utilizing intimidation, harassment, and violence on any individual who has expressed assist for human legal rights or modern values, specially human rights defenders, ladies activists, journalists, and customers of academia amid other folks.”
The legal rights group also urged the Taliban as the de facto authority in Afghanistan to “abide by intercontinental human legal rights legislation and respect everyone’s ideal to flexibility of expression without the need of discrimination.”