A prominent education activist has been arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan amid calls to allow teenage girls and women back into classrooms.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed confirmed to the local Pashto service of the BBC that Matiullah Wesa had been detained for "self-serving activities and anti-establishment motivations".
Mr Wesa is the founder and president of Pen Path — a local non-government group that travels across Afghanistan with a mobile school and library.
A number of Taliban leaders have pointed to Mr Wesa's meetings with Western officials and rights advocates as proof of his motives.
Earlier, the UN mission in Afghanistan said he was arrested in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday.
Local reports said Taliban security forces detained Mr Wesa after he returned from a trip to Europe.
Calls for activist's release
The arrest has been widely condemned at home and abroad.
The UN has urged authorities in Kabul to clarify Mr Wesa's whereabouts, the reasons for his arrest and ensure his access to legal representation and contact with family.
Since their takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed restrictions on women's and minority rights.
Girls are barred from school beyond the sixth grade, and women are banned from going to university.
Mr Wesa's brother, Attaullah Wesa, said the Taliban forces surrounded their family's house on Tuesday.
They assaulted Mr Wesa's other two brothers, insulted their mother and confiscated Mr Wesa's mobile phone.
Afghans inside the country and abroad have joined the calls for Mr Wesa's release, and social media activists have created a hashtag campaign "#FreeWesa".
Abdul Haq Humad, the director of publications at the Ministry of Information and Culture, defended the detention.
"His actions were suspicious and the system has the right to ask such people for an explanation," he said in a tweet.
"It is known that the arrest of an individual caused such widespread reaction that a conspiracy was prevented."
A vocal supporter of girls' education
Mr Wesa has been outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school and learn and has repeatedly called on the Taliban-led government to reverse its bans.
His most recent tweets about female education coincided with the start of the new academic year in Afghanistan, with girls remaining shut out of classrooms and campuses.
Mr Wesa and others from the Pen Path launched a door-to-door campaign to promote girls' education.
"We have been volunteering for 14 years to reach people and convey the message for girls' education," Mr Wesa had said in recent posts.
"During the past 18 months we campaigned house to house in order to eliminate illiteracy and to end all our miseries."
The UN special rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said he was alarmed by Mr Wesa's detention.
"His safety is paramount, and all his legal rights must be respected," Mr Bennett tweeted.
In a new report released Tuesday, Amnesty International criticised the Taliban for imposing restrictions on women and minority rights since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
Peaceful protesters have faced arbitrary arrests, torture and enforced disappearance while journalists faced arbitrary arrest and detention, as well as torture and other ill-treatment for reporting that was critical of the Taliban, said Amnesty.
"Women have been at the forefront of protests in the region, often challenging patriarchal control over their bodies, lives, choices and sexuality on behalf of the state, society and family," said Ms Yamini Mishra, the group's regional director.
ABC/AP
