ISLAMABAD: UN experts on Tuesday demanded the Taliban immediately release two women rights defenders who have been in detention for more than a month with no reason given for their arrest.
The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and work and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking power in 2021, as US and NATO forces were pulling out of Afghanistan following two decades of war.
UN experts, including the special rapporteur on Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, described the release of Neda Parwan and Zholia Parsi and their family members as an urgent matter. They have not been granted legal representation, charged with a crime or brought before a court.
“We are increasingly concerned about their physical and mental wellbeing,” the experts said in a statement. They urged Taliban authorities to demonstrate respect for rights and freedoms and said there was no justification for the detention.
The experts say people must not lose their freedom just for expressing dissenting views, and women human rights defenders are particularly at risk and more likely to be targeted because of their gender.
“The Taliban seem to be continuing to intensify their restrictions on civic space, especially through silencing of the voices of women and girls, thus creating a chilling effect,” the statement said.
The experts welcomed the recent release of French-Afghan journalist Mortaza Behboudi and campaigner Matiullah Wesa, the founder of the nongovernmental group Pen Path, which champions girls’ rights to education.
Wesa, who was arrested seven months ago, has been outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school and repeatedly called on the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan to reverse its bans on female education.
Afghanistan is the only country in the world with restrictions on female education.
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UN experts call on Taliban to free two women rights defenders from custody
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UN experts call on Taliban to free two women rights defenders from custody
- The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and work and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade
Japanese court set to sentence man who admitted killing former leader Abe
- Shinzo Abe was serving as a regular lawmaker after leaving the prime minister’s job when he was killed in 2022
TOKYO: A Japanese court on Wednesday will sentence a man who’s admitted assassinating former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a case that revealed decades of cozy ties between Japan’s governing party and a controversial South Korean church.
Abe, one of Japan’s most influential politicians, was serving as a regular lawmaker after leaving the prime minister’s job when he was killed in 2022 while campaigning in the western city of Nara. It shocked a nation with strict gun control.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, pleaded guilty to murder in the trial that started in October, and Wednesday’s ruling will determine how long he’ll spend in prison.
Shooter said he was motivated by hatred of a controversial church
Yamagami said he killed Abe after seeing a video message the former leader sent to a group affiliated with the Unification Church. He added that his goal was to hurt the church, which he hated, and expose its ties with Abe.
Prosecutors have demanded life imprisonment for Yamagami, while his lawyers have sought a sentence of no more than 20 years, speaking of his troubles as the child of a church adherent.
The revelation of close ties between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the church caused the party to pull back from the church. It also prompted investigations that ended with the church’s Japanese branch being stripped of its tax-exempt religious status and ordered dissolved.
The killing has also led to officials working to increase police protection of dignitaries.
Shooting at a crowded election campaign venue
Abe was shot on July 8, 2022, while giving a speech outside a train station in Nara. In footage captured by television cameras, two gunshots ring out as the politician raises his fist. He collapses holding his chest, his shirt smeared with blood. Officials say Abe died almost instantly.
Yamagami was captured on the spot. He said he initially planned to kill the leader of the Unification Church, but switched targets to Abe because of the difficulty of getting close to the leader.
Yamagami won sympathy from people skeptical of church
Yamagami’s case has also brought attention to the children of Unification Church adherents in Japan, and influenced a law meant to restrict malicious donation solicitations by religious and other groups.
Thousands of people have signed a petition requesting leniency for Yamagami, and others have sent care packages to his relatives and the detention center where he’s being housed.
Abe, one of Japan’s most influential politicians, was serving as a regular lawmaker after leaving the prime minister’s job when he was killed in 2022 while campaigning in the western city of Nara. It shocked a nation with strict gun control.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, pleaded guilty to murder in the trial that started in October, and Wednesday’s ruling will determine how long he’ll spend in prison.
Shooter said he was motivated by hatred of a controversial church
Yamagami said he killed Abe after seeing a video message the former leader sent to a group affiliated with the Unification Church. He added that his goal was to hurt the church, which he hated, and expose its ties with Abe.
Prosecutors have demanded life imprisonment for Yamagami, while his lawyers have sought a sentence of no more than 20 years, speaking of his troubles as the child of a church adherent.
The revelation of close ties between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the church caused the party to pull back from the church. It also prompted investigations that ended with the church’s Japanese branch being stripped of its tax-exempt religious status and ordered dissolved.
The killing has also led to officials working to increase police protection of dignitaries.
Shooting at a crowded election campaign venue
Abe was shot on July 8, 2022, while giving a speech outside a train station in Nara. In footage captured by television cameras, two gunshots ring out as the politician raises his fist. He collapses holding his chest, his shirt smeared with blood. Officials say Abe died almost instantly.
Yamagami was captured on the spot. He said he initially planned to kill the leader of the Unification Church, but switched targets to Abe because of the difficulty of getting close to the leader.
Yamagami won sympathy from people skeptical of church
Yamagami’s case has also brought attention to the children of Unification Church adherents in Japan, and influenced a law meant to restrict malicious donation solicitations by religious and other groups.
Thousands of people have signed a petition requesting leniency for Yamagami, and others have sent care packages to his relatives and the detention center where he’s being housed.
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