The U.N. human rights office called on Tuesday for the release of four women activists and their relatives in Afghanistan who were detained or abducted last month after protests over women's rights since the Taliban seized control. The OHCHR said there was no news about the whereabouts of the four women, whom it said reportedly took part in a protest on women's rights on January 16, and added it was pressing the authorities for information on these cases. "We call for their immediate release," Liz Throssell, an OHCHR spokesperson, told Geneva-based journalists. "We are gravely concerned for the safety of the disappeared women and their family members.”
The OHCHR said Parwana Ibrahim Khil and Tamana Paryani were abducted with their relatives on January 19, while Mursal Ayar and Zahra Mohammadi were seized last week and there was no information on where they were being held. Fears for the safety of vocal opponents of the Taliban and prominent women have risen since the Islamist group took over the country in August as foreign forces withdrew. Many civil society and women's rights activists fled the country.
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