ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban have arrested a well known Afghan mannequin and three of his colleagues, accusing them of disrespecting Islam and the Koran, the Muslim holy ebook, in line with movies launched by Afghanistan’s new rulers.
Ajmal Haqiqi, recognized for his vogue reveals, YouTube movies and modeling occasions, appeared in handcuffs in movies posted on Twitter by the Taliban intelligence company on Tuesday.
In a extensively circulated and controversial video, Haqiqi is seen laughing as his colleague Ghulam Sakhi, who is thought to have a speech obstacle that he makes use of for humor, recites verses from the Koran in Arabic, in a comical voice.
After the arrests, the Taliban launched a video of Haqiqi and his colleagues, seen standing in tan jail uniforms and apologizing to the Taliban authorities and non secular students.
The video was accompanied by a tweet within the Dari language that learn: “Nobody can insult the Koranic verses or the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.”
Later Wednesday, Amnesty Worldwide issued an announcement urging the Taliban to “instantly and unconditionally” launch Haqiqi and his colleagues.
Amnesty has documented a number of arbitrary arrests by the Taliban in Afghanistan, typically accompanied by coerced statements in an try and quell dissent within the nation and discourage others from expressing their views.
Samira Hamidi, an Amnesty South Asia activist, denounced the arrests, saying that by arresting “Haqiqi and his colleagues and forcing them to apologize,” the Taliban had carried out “a blatant assault on the appropriate to freedom of expression.” ”. Her assertion additionally condemned the Taliban’s “continued censorship of those that want to freely specific their concepts.”
In Kabul, Taliban officers didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark and it was unclear what measures the mannequin and her colleagues face underneath the Taliban-run judiciary.
The households of the arrested fashions additionally couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.
Since taking energy final August in Afghanistan in the course of the last weeks of the US troop withdrawal from the nation, the Taliban have imposed strict measures and edicts in accordance with their harsh interpretation of Islamic regulation, proscribing specifically the rights of girls and minorities.
The strikes have raised worldwide issues that the unconventional Islamic group intends to rule because it did the final time the Taliban held energy in Afghanistan, within the late 1990s. The Taliban view criticism and something perceived as a disrespect to Islam as a punishable offence.
Amnesty mentioned that since taking energy, the Taliban “have been utilizing intimidation, harassment and violence towards anybody who has expressed assist for human rights or trendy values, particularly human rights defenders, girls activists, journalists and members of the educational world, amongst others”.
The human rights group additionally urged the Taliban because the de facto authority in Afghanistan to “adjust to worldwide human rights regulation and respect everybody’s proper to freedom of expression with out discrimination.”
