Key Points
- Matiullah Wesa was released this week by Taliban authorities.
- The prominent education activist was detained for seven months for teaching girls.
- Wesa thanked his friends for their support and vowed to continue his work.
Taliban authorities released prominent education activist Matiullah Wesa this week, his organisation said on Thursday, after his seven-month detention sparked condemnation from the United Nations and rights groups.
The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has barred most girls from high school and women from universities since taking over the country in 2021.
Wesa, from the southern province of Kandahar, has for years advocated for girls’ education, particularly in conservative rural areas, including during the tenure of the previous Western-backed foreign government when he said many girls living in the countryside were not reached by education services.
Angelina Jolie (left) wrote an open letter to Matiullah Wesa (right), when he was in prison, telling him the world hadn’t forgotten him. Credit: AP/X/Twitter
A board member at Pen Path, Wesa’s education organisation, confirmed the detention in late March, spurring calls for his release by foreign diplomats and human rights organisations.
A spokesperson for the Taliban administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Taliban have not officially confirmed the detention or its reason.
After his release, Wesa thanked his friends for their support and vowed to continue his work.
“Our hopes and goals will not change, nor will they be broken, we will continue our charitable services,” he wrote on social media site X. “I will share the whole process and (details of the) prison situation later.”
Wesa’s brother Ataullah questioned the detention.
“Why is a person arrested if he is working for the basic rights of a nation or generation?” Ataullah said in a message to the Associated Press. “He is not guilty. He did not commit any crime.”
He declined to comment on his brother’s treatment in prison and said it was Pen Path’s social and civic responsibility to continue working in the education field.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, welcomed the news about Wesa.
Bennett also called for the “immediate and unconditional release of all Afghanistan human rights defenders who are arbitrarily detained for standing up for their own rights and the human rights of others”.
Amnesty International said that Wesa should never have been jailed for promoting girls’ rights to education.
“The Taliban de-facto authorities must release human rights defenders and women protesters Rasool Parsi, Neda Parwani, Zholia Parsi and Manizha Sediqi and all others who are unfairly kept behind bars for standing up for equality and denouncing repression,” the rights group posted on X.
Actress and refugee advocate Angelina Jolie wrote an open letter to Wesa in August saying: “I add my voice, with humility, to those of everyone calling for your release, so that you can continue your important work, and for the lifting of all restrictions on education for girls.”
Wesa and Pen Path volunteers continued to speak in support of female education, holding meetings with tribal elders, encouraging communities to open schools for girls and boys and disbursing books and mobile libraries.
