Afghan Woman Poet Muzda Uzbek Detained for Poems Criticising the Taliban, Calls for Her Release Grow

Poet and schoolteacher Muzda Uzbek has been detained by Taliban intelligence forces in Afghanistan's northeastern Takhar province. She was arrested for writing poems criticising the Taliban government's policies, several news outlets have reported, citing local sources.

According to reports by Afghan outlets Rukhshana Media, Afghanistan International and Kabul Now, Muzda Uzbek was detained in late September. The reports noted that news of her arrest took considerable time to reach the media.

The reports said Muzda Uzbek was detained along with her husband from Khwaja Ghar district in Takhar province. They were then taken to Taloqan, the provincial capital. Her husband was later released on a bond or guarantee, but Muzda remains in Taliban custody, according to the sources.

Local sources claimed that, alongside the poems criticising Taliban policy, Muzda Uzbek's connection with Rahila Dostum, daughter of former Afghan politician Abdul Rashid Dostum, was also mentioned as a reason behind her detention. The reports said, however, that this claim could not be confirmed.

Rahila Dostum, meanwhile, publicly condemned Muzda Uzbek's detention. Calling the incident worrying and unjustifiable, she urged the poet's immediate release. Her position was that writing poetry and thinking freely should not be treated as a crime.

Muzda Uzbek is a member of Afghanistan's Uzbek minority community. As well as being a poet, writer and schoolteacher, she is a mother of five children. News that a teacher and mother is being held in this way has also caused concern locally, the reports said.

Her detention has renewed concerns about freedom of expression in Afghanistan and the safety of writers and artists. Many people have also reacted on social media demanding her release, according to the media reports.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban authorities have faced allegations from various human rights organisations of detaining journalists, writers, rights activists and government critics and of restricting freedom of expression. Observers see Muzda's case as part of that pattern.

Various restrictions have also been imposed on Afghanistan's media and cultural activities under Taliban rule. Because of those restrictions, many outlets have shut down, journalists have been forced to leave the country, and the space for writers and artists to work freely has shrunk, various reports have said.

The Taliban authorities have also imposed strict restrictions on music and other cultural activities. As a result, many musicians and other artists in the country have been forced to change profession or leave Afghanistan, the reports noted.

The reports said no detailed information was available on whether any specific formal charge has been brought against Muzda Uzbek, exactly where she is being held, or what her physical condition is. Taliban officials in Takhar province had also made no public comment on her detention, according to the media reports.

The reports mentioned that Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had imposed a ban on protest poetry and love poetry. Verified information about the ban's exact scope and when it took effect is limited, however. Attention will now remain on Muzda Uzbek's release and on what steps are taken against her next, among Afghan writers and human rights activists.