Taliban Detain Another Cleric In Kabul As Criticism From Religious Scholars Grows

Sources close to Hanafi told Afghanistan International that he was detained by Taliban intelligence agents shortly after returning from Egypt and is currently being held in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.

According to those familiar with the case, Hanafi was arrested one day after arriving in Afghanistan and has now spent over a week in Taliban custody. The group has referred his case to the court, though no formal charges have been made public.

A relative of the cleric said, “We do not know why he has been detained again. This is the second time the Taliban have arrested him. He is now so exhausted he doesn’t know what to do.”

Hanafi had previously been arrested by the Taliban last year. He is currently a PhD candidate in Islamic studies at Al-Azhar University in Egypt. His family expressed concern that his continued detention could cause him to miss an important exam in the coming weeks, jeopardising years of academic work.

Four weeks ago, Hanafi gave an interview to BBC Pashto in which he spoke about Ibn Hibban al-Busti, a prominent 10th-century Shafi'i scholar. In the interview, he emphasised the value of knowledge and highlighted the injustice faced by Ibn Hibban, who was reportedly denounced by some contemporaries despite his scholarly contributions.

Some speculate the interview may have triggered his arrest, though his family says they have not been given any official explanation.

Hanafi has been an outspoken critic of the Taliban's policies, particularly the ban on girls’ education. He has publicly called for the reopening of schools and universities for girls and has challenged the Taliban's silence on the issue. In addition to his academic work, Hanafi runs a madrasa for children in Lashkar Gah city.

Taliban officials in Helmand have not yet commented on his arrest.

His detention comes just a day after another Taliban critic, Mawlawi Abdul Qadir Qanit, was reportedly detained in Kabul. Qanit is said to be held at Directorate 40 of Taliban intelligence and was allowed to briefly contact his family by phone.

In recent months, the Taliban has increasingly targeted dissenting voices, with several critical clerics arrested across Afghanistan. Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned the Taliban's suppression of free speech and religious debate.

The organisation asserts that the Taliban have reversed all legal and institutional reforms aimed at improving women’s rights.

In a statement, Amnesty International announced its intention to submit its findings to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) during the committee’s ninety-first session, scheduled to run from 16 June through July 2025.

The report details how, since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, the Taliban have declared void any laws aligned with international human rights standards and disbanded bodies that offered support legal, social and public to women and girls. It emphasises that restrictions have been imposed across every sphere of women’s and girls’ lives, from education and employment to freedom of movement.

Before the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Afghanistan had been implementing a series of legal and institutional measures designed to advance women’s rights, despite ongoing challenges. Amnesty International warns that these hard-won gains have been abruptly dismantled, leaving Afghan women and girls at risk of systemic discrimination and abuse.

Amnesty International has called on the international community and UN member states to press the Taliban to restore legal protections and institutions that safeguard women’s rights and to ensure accountability for ongoing violations.

The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced on Thursday that each of the three individuals received 39 lashes in a public setting.

According to the court’s statement, issued on 21 May, the woman and one of the men were also sentenced to two years of imprisonment.

This incident is part of a broader pattern in recent days. Over the past week, the Taliban has flogged at least 36 individuals, including eight women, in various provinces across Afghanistan, in connection with a range of alleged offences.

The Taliban describes such corporal punishment as the implementation of “Islamic Sharia law.” Since reclaiming control of Afghanistan nearly four years ago, the group has consistently dismissed international calls to halt corporal punishment and torture. Despite widespread condemnation from human rights organisations, the Taliban continues to carry out public floggings and executions.

Sources close to Qanit confirmed to Afghanistan International that Taliban intelligence forces detained him from his residence in Kabul.

According to the sources, Qanit is currently being held at the Taliban’s Intelligence Directorate 40. He has reportedly managed to make a brief phone call to his family since his detention.

The reason for his detention has not yet been made public by the Taliban. However, a video obtained by Afghanistan International appears to show the arrest. In the footage, plainclothes Taliban members arrive in a civilian vehicle on the street where Qanit’s home is located. The car stops outside his house, and Qanit is seen being escorted from his residence and placed into the vehicle.

Several local residents can be seen in the video standing nearby, though they do not intervene or visibly react to the arrest, which resembles a forced abduction.

The Afghanistan Green Trend, led by former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh, also reported the incident on X (formerly Twitter), stating that Qanit was “abducted from his home in Kabul.” The group alleged that a Taliban member named Mullah Sulaiman, affiliated with the group’s 15th District unit, led the operation.

This is not the first time Qanit has been detained by the Taliban. In February 2024, he was previously arrested alongside another cleric, Mahmood Hassan, following a public gathering in Kabul where both criticised the concentration of power within the Kandahar faction of the Taliban and called for the establishment of an inclusive government.

Neither the Taliban nor its intelligence wing has issued an official statement regarding the latest detention of Qanit.