Afghanistan Educator Detained For Speaking Out Against Education Ban On Women

The Taliban authorities have "beaten and detained" an academic who raise his voice against the ban on women's university education. The journalism lecturer had torn up his degree certificate and protested the ban on live television.

The journalism lecturer Ismail Mashal voiced his objections on live television and caused a storm after he tore his degree certificate on TV in December 2022. In recent days, local news channels showed Mashal carting books around Kabul and offering them to passersby.

Mashal's aide Farid Ahmad Fazli said he was "mercilessly beaten" and taken away by members of the Islamic Emirate. A Taliban official confirmed the detention.

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Afghanistan Educator Detained

Director at the Ministry of Information and Culture, Abdul Haq Hammad took to Twitter and wrote, "Teacher Mashal had indulged in provocative actions against the system for some time. The security agencies took him for investigation".

Mashal worked as a lecturer for more than a decade at three Kabul universities and ran a co-educational institute. His aide, Fazli, said the academic was detained on February 2 despite having "committed no crime". Fazli added that Mashal was "giving free books to sisters (women) and men. He is still in detention and we don't know where he is being held".

The footage of Mashal destroying his certificates went viral on social media. In December, he spoke with the news agency AFP and said, "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."

Ismail Mashal added, "I'm raising my voice. I'm standing with my sisters... My protest will continue even if it costs my life".

A small group of male students also protested the ban and held a brief walkout during exams.

Secondary schools for girls have also been closed for over a year and many women lost their jobs in government sectors. After female students were banned from schools and universities, the Taliban claimed that Afghanistan girls and women were not permanently banned and their education has been "postponed" instead.

The women were also barred from going to parks, gyms and public baths.