Taliban arrest ethnic Uzbek poet in northeastern Afghanistan over her critical poems
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Taliban intelligence officers have detained and jailed Muzhda Uzbek, a poet from northern Afghanistan and a member of the country’s Uzbek minority, sources in Takhar province told KabulNow.
The sources said on Sunday, October 4, that Uzbek was taken into custody four days earlier in the provincial capital, Taloqan, and is still being held by the Taliban.
According to the sources, Uzbek was arrested because of poems critical of the Taliban. Her family has not made any public statement about her detention, and local Taliban officials in Takhar have also stayed silent.
No additional details are available at this time about Uzbek’s condition or the place where she is being held.
Her arrest has triggered broad reactions on social media, with many users demanding her immediate release.
The detention comes as freedom of expression remains heavily restricted in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The group has repeatedly detained journalists, writers, activists and other critics, especially those accused of speaking out publicly against its policies. Human rights organisations have documented arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention and other forms of pressure against critics since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
Taliban authorities have introduced more than 20 directives governing media activity, content approval and access to information. These measures have helped bring about the near-collapse of what was once a lively media sector, with dozens of outlets closed or silenced and hundreds of journalists forced into exile or hiding.
The Taliban has also imposed sweeping restrictions on artistic and cultural expression, with poets, musicians and other artists facing tighter scrutiny and limits. Critics say these policies have created an atmosphere in which writers and artists increasingly censor themselves out of fear of detention or other retaliation.
Under the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, playing and listening to music are prohibited. Authorities have repeatedly confiscated, destroyed or burned instruments across the country and banned music from television and radio broadcasts.
Hundreds of musicians and artists have left Afghanistan in recent years, while those who remain have been forced to give up their careers and face the risk of intimidation, abuse and arrest.