Malala Yousafzai, the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize from Pakistan, has pleaded with the Taliban administration to free Matiullah Wesa, an activist for education who was recently detained in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Malala was particularly concerned about Wesa’s detention since he had been operating mobile libraries and classrooms in Afghanistan to educate both boys and girls.
The outspoken proponent of education, who herself escaped a Taliban murder attempt in 2012, protested Wesa’s imprisonment and called it an attack on education. The continuous fight in Afghanistan for the right to an education, particularly for girls and young women in the face of Taliban rule, is highlighted by Malala’s appeal for Wesa’s release.
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In a tweet on Tuesday, Malala criticised the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education and their arrest of education champions like Wesa. She urged the Taliban to release him and all those who have been imprisoned for educating children.
According to Wesa’s brother, the 30-year-old education activist had been receiving threats for some time due to his activities for Afghan girls’ education under his organisation, PenPath. His house was also reportedly raided during his arrest, although the government has not provided details on the incident.
Wesa was one of the most prominent education activists in Afghanistan, campaigning for girls’ right to study since the Taliban barred female education in 2021. On the day of his arrest, he had tweeted a photo of women volunteers for PenPath asking for Islamic rights to education for their daughters.
