Urgent Appeal Filed for Arbitrarily Detained Woman Journalist in Afghanistan

An Urgent Appeal has been filed with United Nations Special Rapporteurs on behalf of Ms. Nazera Rashidi, a a 24-year-old ethnically Uzbek journalist from Kunduz, Afghanistan.

At 8 am on Tuesday, 6 January 2026, Ms. Nazera Rashidi was arrested by the Taliban. For several days following her arrest, Ms. Rashidi’s whereabouts and legal status were unknown to her family. On 12 January 2026, the Taliban publicly confirmed the arrest of Ms. Rashidi, along with four other women. No information has been provided regarding the legal basis for her detention, the charges brought against her, or her ability to access legal counsel or medical care. During a brief visit, Ms. Rashidi’s mother observed that her daughter’s hands and feet were visibly chained and that there were indications she had suffered mistreatment while in detention.

Ms. Rashidi’s arrest, ongoing detention, and mistreatment must be understood within the context of a systematic, well-documented, and intensifying campaign by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to erase women from public life and to extinguish independent media. Ms. Rashidi current circumstances are not an isolated incident; they are indicative of a broader pattern of severe repression under Taliban rule that demands sustained attention and urgent intervention. 

This submission was drafted at the direction of Human Rights Defenders Plus (HRD+), and with the consent and support of her family, who have worked tirelessly and courageously over the past nine days to bring Nazera home. 

Arendt Chambers stands with Ms. Rashidi's family in demanding her prompt and unconditional release, and with all Afghans who are forced to fight a daily battle for recognition of their most basic rights.