WASHINGTON
\nFour women activists in Afghanistan have been released by the country\u2019s \u201cde facto authorities\u201d after going missing weeks ago, the United Nations said Sunday.
\nSince storming back to power in August, the Taliban have cracked down on dissent by forcefully dispersing women\u2019s rallies, detaining critics and often beating local journalists covering unsanctioned protests.
\nTamana Zaryabi Paryani, Parwana Ibrahimkhel, Zahra Mohammadi and Mursal Ayar went missing after participating in an anti-Taliban rally, but Afghanistan\u2019s new rulers — whose government is still not recognised by any country — had consistently denied detaining them.
\n\u201cAfter a long period of uncertainty about their whereabouts and safety, the four \u2018disappeared\u2019 Afghan women activists, as well as their relatives who also went missing, have all been released by the de facto authorities,\u201d the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Twitter.
\nAFP reported the release of Ibrahimkhel on Friday. She went missing along with Paryani on January 19, days after taking part in a rally in Kabul calling for women\u2019s right to work and education.
\nWeeks later, Mohammadi and Ayar went missing. Some relatives of the four women protesters had also gone missing.
\nShortly before she disappeared, footage of Paryani was shared on social media showing her in distress, warning of Taliban fighters at her door.
\nIn the video, Paryani calls out: \u201cKindly help! Taliban have come to our home in Parwan 2. My sisters are at home.\u201d
\nIt shows her telling the men behind the door: \u201cIf you want to talk, we\u2019ll talk tomorrow. I cannot meet you in the night with these girls. I don\u2019t want to (open the door)… Please! help, help!\u201d
\nDissidents warned
\nTaliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had told AFP in an interview recently that the authorities had the right \u201cto arrest and detain dissidents or those who break the law\u201d, after the government banned unsanctioned protests soon after coming to power.
\nThe Taliban have promised a softer version of the harsh rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
\nBut provincial authorities have imposed several restrictions on women and have issued regular guidelines on how they should live.
\nThe new authorities have effectively barred women from working in several government sectors and most girls\u2019 secondary schools remain shut.
\nThe Taliban have also issued an order that women cannot travel between cities and towns unless accompanied by a close male relative.
\nThey have put up posters in many shops across Kabul and in other cities encouraging women to wear the all-covering burqa.
\nEarlier this month the Taliban detained two foreign journalists working for the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR.
\nFormer BBC correspondent Andrew North and another foreign journalist were released on Friday after days in detention, the UNHCR said.
\nMujahid said they had been detained because they did not possess valid identity cards and documents.
\nA \u201cnumber\u201d of British nationals are also being detained in Afghanistan, the UK government told AFP on Saturday, adding that it had raised the issue with officials there.
\nThe Taliban are however under pressure from the international community to respect human rights as the group engages in talks with Western countries and global donors to secure aid for tackling Afghanistan\u2019s humanitarian crisis.
\n\u201cUNAMA calls for the rights of every Afghan to be respected,\u201d the UN mission said on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON Four women activists in Afghanistan have been released by the country\u2019s \u201cde facto authorities\u201d after going missing weeks ago, the United Nations said Sunday. Since storming back to power in August, the Taliban have cracked down on dissent by forcefully dispersing women\u2019s rallies, detaining critics and often beating local journalists covering unsanctioned protests. Tamana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-244494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n