Taliban Arrests Social Media Critic “Abid Lemar”
Informed sources reported that the Taliban officials have arrested Abid Lemar, an active social media user and critic of the group.
A Taliban-affiliated website accused Lemar of using a pseudonym to "incite" people against the Taliban through his writings.
The exact date of Lemar’s arrest remains unclear. Some websites and Taliban-affiliated users claim that 'Abid Lemar' is a pseudonym.
They released an audio recording of a forced confession and a photo of a man named Khitabullah Bangash, who they say is from Laghman and resides in Nangarhar province.
Lemar’s posts were popular among Pashto-speaking users on social media, where he often expressed sharp and sometimes humorous criticism of the Taliban. It appears that the Taliban used technical means to identify his real identity and location.
The Taliban have taken control of Lemar’s Facebook account and have published posts against him.
The Taliban closely monitors social media and have arrested activists from this space. In March, the group arrested Homayun Afghan, a YouTuber, and four of his colleagues in Kabul, although they were later released. However, Hura Sadat did not have the same fate.
A report by Zan Times revealed that contrary to the Taliban's claims, the cause of Hura Sadat's death, a female YouTuber, was not poisoning. According to Zan Times, sources disclosed that Sadat was killed last year due to torture during her detention by the Taliban.
Hura Sadat began her YouTube channel a few months before the Taliban took over the country, gaining popularity with her entertaining video clips. Even after the Taliban returned to power, she continued to bravely produce content, garnering thousands of followers.
Zan Times also disclosed that Sadat and her two sisters were arrested by the Taliban on July 13 last year on charges of "moral corruption”. While they were released on August 10, a friend of the sisters revealed to Zan Times that they had been severely tortured because of their YouTube activities.