The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) on Tuesday urged authorities to release the two activists, who revealed cases of sexual abuse in Logar schools, “as soon as possible” and “ensure their safety and security.”
The group tweeted: “AIHRC is deeply concerned about the illegal detention of civil society activists, Mr. Musa Mahmudi and Ehsanullah Hamidi, who were investigating cases of alleged child sexual abuse in Logar province.”
“AIHRC considers the detention of the activists by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in clear contradiction of national laws and human rights standards and calls on the authorities concerned to release the two activists as soon as possible, and ensure their safety and security,” the watchdog appealed to NDS, which confirmed on Tuesday the detention of the activists.
On Monday, Amnesty International in a statement also called on the NDS to “immediately release” two civil society members “detained after they exposed alleged sexual abuse against schoolchildren.”
The statement said that both civil society members were “arbitrarily detained” by the “National Directorate of Security” on November 21 when they were “on their way to meet with the European Union ambassador in Kabul.”
A mid-November article in the UK’s Guardian, which was based on findings of Mahmudi and Hamidi, alleged that “over 500” children and youth in “six schools” in Logar province had been sexually abused by a network of people, many of whom were in positions of authority.
According to the Amnesty report, the two civil society members began receiving threats on Facebook—some from officials in Logar– after they gave interviews to the UK’s Guardian and Afghanistan’s TOLOnews about the existence of a “pedophile ring.”
Meanwhile, NDS said on Tuesday that the claim about sexual abuse of male school students was made up for foreign asylum.
NDS in a statement said that Musa Mahmudi and his colleagues who made the claim “were shifted to safe place” due to security threats and to inquire about the claims.
The statement said that after inquiry from Mahmudi, it became clear that his findings lacked evidence and made unprofessionally for seeking asylum for his family in a foreign country.
The statement said that several people including schoolchildren were facing “serious security threat” after the claims were made.
The statement said that such claims disturb public perception about educational environment and could deprive children of education.
