A senior Taliban official in Afghanistan’s western Herat province has reportedly been arrested by members of the Taliban on allegations of extramarital relations, according to informed local sources.
Sources said Mawlawi Bayazid Youn, who heads the Taliban’s Complaints Hearing Department in Herat, was detained earlier this week during an operation at a garden on the outskirts of Herat city. Four individuals reportedly accompanying him were also taken into custody, along with a woman allegedly present at the location.
According to the sources, the detainees’ cases have been referred to Taliban judicial authorities. It remains unclear whether those arrested have accepted or denied the allegations, and the Taliban has not issued any official statement regarding the reported incident.
Bayazid Youn previously served in the Taliban’s Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat before being assigned to oversee the review and analysis of complaints submitted against the department. In previous public remarks, he had stated that his office had processed dozens of criminal, legal, and administrative complaints within a single month.
Sources describe Bayazid Youn as one of the younger Taliban officials who rose rapidly through the ranks after the group’s return to power in 2021. They claim his appointment to senior administrative positions was aided by family influence. Originally from Kandahar, he is also reported to have authored articles supporting Taliban policies and discussing religious jurisprudence in Pashto, Persian, and Urdu.
Sources further claimed that Taliban authorities in Herat are attempting to keep the reported arrest from becoming public because of concerns over its potential impact on the credibility of an administration that has aggressively enforced the group’s moral code.
The reported arrest comes only weeks after Taliban authorities intensified enforcement measures against women accused of violating the group’s prescribed dress code in Herat. Those arrests triggered public protests in the city’s Jibril area, where local residents demonstrated against the crackdown. The protests were reportedly dispersed by Taliban forces, resulting in casualties and injuries.
Senior Taliban officials have consistently defended such morality enforcement campaigns, arguing that they are necessary to uphold Islamic values and maintain public order. During a recent visit to Herat, a senior Taliban minister responsible for the Promotion of Virtue defended the arrests, claiming that some detainees were involved in encouraging violations of the group’s dress code and spreading material critical of the department.
The Taliban’s morality enforcement apparatus has, for years, imposed corporal punishment and imprisonment on individuals accused of offences including alleged extramarital relations and other morality-related crimes. Human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized these practices, arguing that they lack due process and violate internationally recognized human rights standards.
The latest reports also revive scrutiny of previous allegations involving Taliban officials. Earlier this year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan stated that his office had documented cases of sexual violence allegedly involving Taliban personnel, particularly within detention facilities. Previous reports have also claimed that several Taliban members have been detained internally over allegations ranging from abuse of authority and sexual offences to murder and alleged links with the militant group ISIS. However, the Taliban has rarely disclosed details of such cases publicly, and independent verification of many internal disciplinary proceedings remains difficult.
