Afghanistan: Activists freed amid diplomatic pressure

KABUL, Afghanistan

The Afghan secret service on Wednesday released the two local activists blamed for “false reports” on a pedophile ring abusing hundreds of boys in the country.

This came a day after the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass called the arrests a “Soviet-style” tactic, prompting President Ashraf Ghani to issue directives for immediately handing over the protection of the activists to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).

The AIHRC confirmed on Wednesday the release of Mohammad Mosa Mehmoodi and Ehsanullah Hamidi from the custody of the National Directorate of Security.

The sudden arrests of the two men without court orders sparked outrage from the local rights groups as well as foreign diplomatic missions.

"Entirely share @AfghanistanIHRC's concern about this illegal detention as well as their call on the authorities concerned to release the two activists as soon as possible and ensure their safety and security. #HumanRightsDefenders are #NotATarget!”, tweeted Peter Prugel, German Ambassador to Afghanistan.

Last week, an array of local and foreign media reported based on information provided by Mehmoodi and Hamidi that a pedophile ring involved in the abuse of at least 546 boys from six schools has been discovered with some of the victims of the abuse have since been murdered.