30.1 C
Accra
Monday, December 23, 2024
WorldTaliban detains professor who protested ban on women’s education

Date:

Taliban detains professor who protested ban on women’s education

Ismail Mashal was arrested after he tore up his degree certificates on live television to protest the exclusion of women from higher education, according to the Taliban.

An academic who tore up his degrees on live television in protest against a ban on women attending universities in the nation was detained by Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, according to his aide on Friday.

“From today I don’t need these diplomas any more because this country is no place for an education. If my sister and my mother can’t study, then I don’t accept this education,” veteran journalism lecturer Ismail Mashal said in the video that went viral on social media last month.

Mashal’s aide Farid Ahmad Fazli told AFP news agency that the academic was “mercilessly beaten” and taken away in a very disrespectful manner by members of “the Islamic Emirate”, the Taliban government.

Al Jazeera was also able to confirm Mashal’s detention.

The shredding of his degree certificates on local Tolonews in December caused a storm, adding to protests by women and activists against a Taliban edict ending women’s university education.

A Taliban official confirmed the detention.

“Teacher Mashal had indulged in provocative actions against the system for some time,” tweeted Abdul Haq Hammad, director at the Ministry of Information and Culture.

“The security agencies took him for investigation.”

‘Giving free books’

In recent days, domestic channels showed Mashal carting books around the capital, Kabul, and offering them to passers-by.

Mashal, who has worked as a lecturer for more than 10 years at three Kabul universities, was arrested on Thursday despite having “committed no crime”, Fazli said.

“He was giving free books to sisters (women) and men,” he added. “He is still in detention and we don’t know where he is being held.”

It is rare to see a man protest in support of women in Afghanistan but Mashal, who ran a co-educational institute, said he would stand up for women’s rights.

“As a man and as a teacher, I was unable to do anything else for them, and I felt that my certificates had become useless. So, I tore them,” he told AFP at the time.

“I’m raising my voice. I’m standing with my sisters … My protest will continue even if it costs my life.”

Curb on women’s rights

The denial of secondary and tertiary education for girls and women has been a continuing concern expressed by the international community.

The majority of girls’ secondary schools remain closed, and most girls who should be attending grades 7-12 are denied access to school, based solely on their gender, experts have said.

Women and girls in Afghanistan have been protesting against the measures continuously for the past five months, demanding their rights to education, work and freedom.

Their Taliban rulers have repeatedly beaten, threatened or arrested demonstrating women.

The Taliban, which returned to power in August 2021, initially promised women’s rights and media freedom but has since gradually imposed curbs on women, bringing back memories of its last rule between 1996 and 2001.

Some senior Taliban leaders have said that Islam grants women rights to education and work but the hardline faction of the group has prevailed in implementing anti-women measures.

[forminator_poll id="710479"]

Latest stories

Guardiola ready to bid €80M for Kudus – Reports

Manchester City is reportedly preparing to make an €80...

94 dead in Mozambique over Cyclone Chido

Cyclone Chido has caused significant devastation in Mozambique, killing...

Vice President-Elect to handle expenditure after swearing in – Ato Forson assures

Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has assured Ghanaians...

Cedi trading at GHS16.10 to a dollar at major forex bureaus

Ghana's local currency, the cedi, has experienced marginal gains...

Check out the latest prices for petrol and diesel

As the second fuel pricing window for December begins,...

NPP Central Regional Chairman, Chairman Kutin, reportedly dead

The Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in...

No one pays me to release a prophetic word, I speak the will of God – El-Bernard Nelson-Eshun

Prophet Bernard El-Bernard Nelson-Eshun, Senior Pastor of Spiritlife Revival...

Related stories

Biden grants full pardon to son Hunter amid criminal sentencing

US President Joe Biden has granted a full and...

Court issues 2-year suspended death sentence to former Bank of China Chair for bribery, others

Former Bank of China chairman Liu Liange on Tuesday received...

Ghanaians among UN peacekeepers injured in Southern Lebanon attacks

The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has reported...

Russia denies Trump told Putin to restrain Ukraine war efforts

The Kremlin has rejected media reports suggesting that US...

More than 100 detained as protesters defy Amsterdam’s ban on protests

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested in Amsterdam on...

Traffic jam erupts as cyclists from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng for dumplings

A social media trend that began as a lighthearted...

Adin Ross wins $1.6m on Trump election bet after public endorsement

American streamer and social media influencer Adin Ross scored...