Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have reportedly beaten and detained an academic for voicing his outrage on live television against the sect’s ban on women’s university education, his aide said Friday.
The veteran journalism lecturer Ismail Mashal sparked media interest when he tore his degree certificates to shreds on TV in December 2022, in protest to the edict barring women from seeking higher education.
Meanwhile, a Taliban official, Abdul Haq Hammad confirmed the detention with a tweet saying;
“Teacher Mashal had indulged in provocative actions against the system for some period. He has been taken in by security agents for investigation.”
Hammad is the director of the Ministry of Information and Culture.
Mashal, a lecturer for over a decade at three Kabul universities had been detained on Thursday, February 2.
In December, the Taliban authorities had ordered all aid groups to prevent their women employees from coming to work. They have since granted an exemption to the health sector, allowing females working there to return to their employment.
