Key Points
- The Taliban have detained a prominent education activist for five months now.
- Angelina Jolie has written a letter in support of Matiullah Wesa and his work.
- In the letter, the Hollywood actor and human rights advocate calls for his release.
The women and girls in the video stand shoulder-to-shoulder, holding colourful signs asking for a basic human right: to learn.
They pump their fists in the air, their voices small but firm against the might of the Taliban — the group that is preventing them from teaching and learning.
The video, posted on 27 March on social media platform X, is one of the final posts from education activist Matiullah Wesa before he was arrested by the Taliban.
Wesa, who co-founded PenPath, a non-government education program that delivers teaching aides and a mobile library to girls in rural and remote Afghanistan, was arrested shortly after for what the militant group said was "self-serving activities and anti-establishment motivations”.
Why is Angelina Jolie intervening in Matiullah Wesa’s case?
Angelina Jolie has written an open letter addressed to Wesa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, thanking him for his work and calling for his release.
"Like you too, I hope for a day in which every Afghan child is able to go to school, college or university and contribute freely to a peaceful Afghanistan," she writes in the letter.
“I know that you have dedicated over a decade of your life to helping Afghan children, particularly in rural areas, to have access to books and the means and the opportunity to go to school. I am aware that you continue the legacy of your late father who carried out similar work on behalf of Afghan children.”
Jolie, whose work outside acting includes social and human rights advocacy, has long supported the rights of Afghan women and girls.
In the letter, she tells Wesa she is “standing in solidarity with him”.
“I add my voice with humility to those of everyone calling for your release, so that you can continue your important work, and for the lifting of all restrictions on education for girls,” she writes.
“Please know that you are not forgotten."
Who is Matiullah Wesa?
Matiullah Wesa has spent his life’s work educating and advocating for the education of boys and girls. He established PenPath with his brother Attaullah Wesa in 2009 to help those in remote areas learn.
“For over a decade, Matiullah Wesa would travel to regions across Afghanistan with his mobile library, distributing books to children and working to establish libraries and schools in areas blighted by conflict,” according to Pen International.
Describing his arrest, Attaullah said the Taliban surrounded their family's house and assaulted his other brothers and confiscated Matiullah’s mobile phone.
Attaullah is now in hiding himself from the Taliban, and says his brother has been held without charge for five months now.
“No one was allowed meet him, not his family, nor a lawyer. He told me that he had been mistreated and beaten,” Attaullah told NPR.
Why does the Taliban ban girls from school?
Afghanistan is the only country in the world to ban girls over the age of 12 from attending school.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, teenage girls haven’t been able to attend class, and were officially banned from doing so in March 2022.
Afghan girls who had been preparing to go to class on the return of the school year were instead told to go back home, sparking tears and protests.
Women were banned from attending university in December 2022.
The Taliban has always maintained the ban on girls' education is "temporary" and was being looked at.
It also justified the ban on women from universities by saying they were not "dressed appropriately".
Several Muslim-majority countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia have criticised the hardline Islamist group for the ban on women and girls' education.
What can Angelina Jolie’s letter achieve?
Given the Taliban ignored similar calls from human rights groups, the United Nations and other activists about Wesa's case, it’s unlikely the militant group will do much in response to Jolie’s calls.
But given her platform and reach of millions on her social media accounts, commentators believe she’s raised awareness about the plight of a man who’s languished in jail, and with little worldwide media attention, for the past five months.
