Taliban free Afghan activist arrested 7 months ago after campaigning for girls’ education

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A nonprofit organization in Afghanistan says the Taliban have freed an activist who campaigned for the education of girls. The group Pen Path said Matiullah Wesa was arrested seven months ago and spent 215 days in prison. The group gave no further details Thursday about Wesa’s release or his condition. The Taliban have barred girls from school beyond the sixth grade and from universities. Wesa was outspoken in his demands for girls to have the right to go to school. The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan welcomed the news about Wesa and called for the “immediate and unconditional release of all Afghanistan human rights defenders who are arbitrarily detained.”