KABUL: Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday strongly condemned the detention by the Taliban´s morality police of one of the NGO´s employees in the western Afghan city of Herat for violating a dress code imposed on women.
Tensions have been mounting in Herat for days after a crackdown on women´s dress sparked protests during which a boy was shot dead on Tuesday, according to the United Nations.
A female medical worker heading to Herat Regional Hospital was stopped by representatives of the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) on June 6 and accused of failing to comply with its dress code for women.
The employee, who worked in the MSF-supported pediatric ward at the hospital, was detained for two days and released on June 8 after having to sign, together with her husband and relatives, a written commitment to wear clothing mandated by the PVPV in the future.
