What happened? The Taliban intelligence agency, the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), has confirmed the detention of two Afghans, who have thousands of followers on Facebook. The GDI has posted the video confession of Imran Ahmadazi and Sadullah Didan and said that they have worked together against mental security and disruption of public order.
Go deeper:
- In the video, both detainees have confessed to conducting anti-Taliban activities on social media.
- It is not clear under which circumstances these confessions have been taken.
- The Taliban intelligence directorate has for the first-time published confession of detained Afghans active on charges of anti-group activities.
Why it matters? Ahmadzai maintains an active page on Facebook with 23,327 followers. He last posted a video of people running on a Kabul Street with the caption stating ‘go towards Turkey’ on his Facebook page on February 8.
- Sadullah Didan has 6,160 followers on Facebook and has posted satirist content on the account. Earlier, news reports introduced him as a satirist in the eastern province of Nangahar.
Backstory: On February 8, hundreds of Afghan citizens rushed to the Kabul airport, after there were rumors that the Taliban were sending Afghans to Turkiye. Taliban members had violently engaged with the people and scattered them with aerial shots.
Zoom out: Earlier, the Taliban had arrested YouTuber Salahshor Kamrak, and his colleagues in western Kabul on December 6, 2022.
- The Taliban raided Kamrak’s residence in Dawazda Imam township in District 13 of Kabul and detained the YouTuber and his colleagues. Before his detention, Kamrak had published social media vlogs on a YouTube channel called Manji Studio.
