Arrest of women activists condemned by UN's Afghanistan mission

Two women activists and members of their families have been detained in Afghanistan, the United Nations mission said Friday, calling the arrests "deeply troubling".

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement that Neda Parwani and Zholya Parsi had been detained for the past 10 days, and urged the country's Taliban authorities to give them access to legal and medical aid.

"Ongoing arrests and detentions of individuals simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and opinion is deeply troubling and contrary to Afghanistan's international human rights obligations," UNAMA said in a statement.

There was no immediate response from Taliban authorities.

Since seizing power in August 2021, Afghanistan's Taliban government has imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law on the country, largely excluding women from public life.

Teenage girls and women are barred from schools and universities, thousands have lost their government jobs -- or are being paid to stay at home -- and they are also prohibited from entering parks, funfairs or gyms.

In its statement, UNAMA also named three other people it said were in detention -- journalist Mortaza Behboudi, education activist Matiullah Wesa, and scholar Rasoul Parsi.

"UNAMA calls for the de facto authorities to cease arbitrary arrests and detentions and to ensure that all those detained are afforded access to family, lawyers and medical care and have their rights to a fair trial upheld," the mission said.