Taliban arrest Afghan social media influencer for 'disrespecting Islam'

The Taliban have put a fashion model, Ajmal Haqiqi, and his three colleagues in jail for allegedly insulting Islam and the Quran.

The incident came to light after the Taliban released a highly-edited video of the three men apologising to them and the country's religious scholars for what is being seen as an insult to Islam by the three young men.

Haqiqi is a famous social media influencer based out of Kabul, Afghanistan. He is a model and also makes YouTube videos His arrest came after a video of him laughing at his colleague Ghulam Sakhi reciting Quran verses went viral on social media.

Sakhi has a speech impediment, so the video was comical in nature and that is why the Taliban decided to put Haqiqi and Sakhi along with another colleague behind bars.

The Taliban took the action against the three men despite them having issued an apology the next day for their comical video. They later shared a video of the three handcuffed men dressed in brown uniforms apologising for insulting the religion.

The three men were arrested on charges of "insulting Islamic sacred values" by the Taliban's General Directorate of Intelligence on June 7.

Amnesty International has now demanded the immediate release of Haqiqi and his colleagues stating that this is an attack on freedom of expression, per a report in The Independent.

"The Taliban must immediately and unconditionally release the YouTubers and end their continued censorship of those who wish to freely express their ideas," read a statement by the NGO that focuses on human rights.

"This incident is a classic example of how the Taliban is creating a climate of fear in Afghanistan by using arbitrary arrests and coercion to force people into silence," it continued.

The Taliban is on a roll when it comes to putting restrictions on all kinds of personal and religious freedoms. They have been arbitrarily passing orders against human rights advocates, people who had worked for the previous Afghan government and women who have been defying their diktats.

They had initially a promised a much more liberal approach to governance after taking over Afghanistan in August last year, but their actions say otherwise. Women have been restricted to their homes and are not being allowed to get an education, while men are being forced to follow a more traditional way of living.