ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban have arrested a perfectly-acknowledged Afghan style model and three of his colleagues, accusing them of disrespecting Islam and the Quran, the Muslim holy ebook, in accordance to movies produced by Afghanistan’s new rulers.
Ajmal Haqiqi — known for his vogue displays, YouTube clips and modeling events — appeared handcuffed in movies posted on Twitter by the Taliban intelligence agency on Tuesday.
In 1 broadly circulated and contentious video clip, Haqiqi is observed laughing as his colleague Ghulam Sakhi — who is recognized to have a speech impediment that he utilizes for humor — recites verses of the Quran in Arabic, in a comical voice.
After the arrests, the Taliban released a video clip of Haqiqi and his colleagues, viewed standing in light brown jail uniforms and apologizing to the Taliban government and spiritual students.
The movie was accompanied by a tweet in the Dari language, stating: “No 1 is allowed to insult Quranic verses or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.”
Later Wednesday, Amnesty Worldwide unveiled a statement, urging the Taliban to “immediately and unconditionally” launch Haqiqi and his colleagues.
Amnesty has documented quite a few arbitrary detentions by the Taliban in Afghanistan, frequently accompanied by coerced statements in an endeavor to stifle dissent in the country and discourage many others from expressing their views.
Samira Hamidi, Amnesty’s South Asia campaigner, denounced the arrests and stated that by detaining “Haqiqi and his colleagues and coercing them into apologizing,” the Taliban have carried out “a blatant assault on the appropriate to freedom of expression.” Her statement also condemned the Taliban’s “continued censorship of people who desire to freely categorical their strategies.”
In Kabul, Taliban officers did not right away react to requests for comment and it was not clear what measures the product and his colleagues encounter less than the Taliban-run judiciary.
The households of the arrested styles could also not instantly be achieved for comment.
Due to the fact they seized electrical power final August in Afghanistan during the ultimate months of the U.S. troop pullout from the country, the Taliban have imposed rigid measures and edicts in accordance to their harsh interpretation of Islamic legislation, especially curbing the rights of women and minorities.
The moves have lifted global problems that the radical Islamic group intends to rule as it did the last time the Taliban held electricity in Afghanistan, in the late 1990s. The Taliban consider criticism and everything perceived as disrespectful of Islam as a punishable crime.
Amnesty said that due to the fact their takeover, the Taliban “have been using intimidation, harassment, and violence on any person who has expressed guidance for human legal rights or modern day values, specially human legal rights defenders, ladies activists, journalists, and users of academia between other folks.”
The legal rights team also urged the Taliban as the de facto authority in Afghanistan to “abide by international human legal rights legislation and regard everyone’s correct to freedom of expression with no discrimination.”