Sources close to the family of Mawlawi Abdul Qadir Qanet, a cleric critical of the Taliban, have reported that the group’s forces raided his home in Kabul on Thursday morning and took his 12-year-old son with them.
This comes after Mawlawi Qanet himself was arrested by Taliban intelligence two days ago.
The eldest son of the family is said to have fled fearing arrest and Taliban forces took the young son instead.
During the raid, the cleric’s house was searched and his family members were insulted and humiliated.
A video released from the moment Qanet was arrested shows Taliban intelligence forces in plain clothes and with a civilian intermediary dragging him out of his house without any judicial warrant.
Mawlawi Qanet is one of the few religious clerics who has spoken out openly against Taliban policies and had previously been arrested for the same criticism.
This action is not only another example of the Taliban’s severe suppression of freedom of expression, but also shows that the group violates even the most basic principles of humanity in dealing with critics.
The detention of a child instead of a father demonstrates the depth of desperation and extremism of the Taliban structure; a structure that considers criticism a crime and silence the only option for survival
