Afghanistan: Concern over the fate of a university critic of the Taliban

A university student in Afghanistan, known for his highly critical stance on the Taliban regime, has been arrested in Kabul, with his daughter saying today that she fears “for his health and safety”.

Faizullah Jalal, a professor at Kabul University, was arrested by the Taliban on Saturday and there has been no word on his fate since. In recent months, Jalal has repeatedly spoken out on television against the Islamists, who seized power in Afghanistan in August.

A spokesman for the Taliban government, Zabihullah Mujahid, justified the professor’s arrest on Twitter, saying that Jalal often posted on social media “trying to persuade people to revolt against the system”.

“He was arrested in order to prevent others from making similarly silly comments, on the pretext that they are professors or academics,” Mujahid added, republishing the professor’s posts.

The daughter of Hasina Jalal, a student at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., explained that the posts were made from a fake account that her family had repeatedly tried to close in recent weeks.

“The Taliban are using these posts as an excuse to silence a strong voice in the country,” she said, adding that she had no contact with her father after his arrest.

“We are very concerned about his health and safety,” he said.

“How can I abandon my people?”

A respected figure who also criticized the previous US-backed government in Afghanistan, Jalal had come to light when he described a Taliban official as an “ox” during a TV show, a very serious insult to Afghanistan.

Excerpts from this show had gone viral in Afghanistan raising concerns about retaliation against the professor.

According to Hasina Jalal, her father, who is about 60 years old, refused to leave Afghanistan, where he was in danger, and recently lived in hiding in Kabul. His family has sought refuge in Europe.

“He told me, ‘How can I abandon my people? I did not abandon them during the first Taliban regime or during the civil war, how can I abandon them now?'” He said.

Faizullah Jalal, a professor of law and political science at Kabul University, has a reputation for being a fierce critic of Afghanistan’s leaders.

During the 1980s he was imprisoned after the invasion of the country by Soviet troops and during the first Taliban regime (1996-2001) he was arrested several times, according to his daughter.

Massoud Jalal’s wife was the first woman to run in Afghanistan’s 2004 presidential election.

Today a small group of women demonstrated in Kabul demanding his release and respect for freedom of expression.

Amnesty International has called for his release, saying he had been arrested “for exercising his right to freedom of expression and for criticizing the Taliban”.