KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday hit out at his ownintelligence agency for detaining two activists who broke the story of analleged massive paedophile ring operating in the country’s schools.
Ghani said he was “deeply disturbed about the recent reports on sexualabuse” in six schools in Logar province bordering Kabul, which were broughtto light by a youth social worker, Musa Mahmudi.
Mahmudi told Britain’s *Guardian* newspaperlinkthismonth that at least 546 boys had been allegedly abused by a paedophile ringinvolving teachers and local officials — allegations that sparked nationaloutrage.
But Mahmudi and a colleague, Ehsanullah Hamidi, were arrested last week onsuspicion of threatening public order, the National Directorate of Security(NDS) said on Tuesday.
The NDS said Mahmudi’s claims were part of a scheme aimed at securingasylum in a foreign country, blasting the report as “baseless” andpredicated on “unfounded allegations.”
The Afghan spy agency also released a video of Mahmudi appearing to retracthis account. However, it was not clear if he was speaking under duress.
But Ghani ordered the NDS to “stop the proceedings.” “The protection ofcivil society and human rights defenders is the sole responsibility of thesecurity forces,” the president said in a series of tweets.
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Presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said Ghani had ordered that theactivists be handed over to the interior ministry for their “protection.”
The US ambassador to Afghanistan, John Bass, said he was “deeply disturbedby these Soviet-style tactics” of the NDS.
“It’s appalling to coerce confessions from civil society activists whosegoal is to protect #Afghan children,” he added on Twitter.
*The Guardian’s* report included abuse accounts from some of the victims. -APP / AFP
