Meet Ali Hassan Sarwari: The Afghan-Danish Man Accused of Spying for Iran in Europe
On June 26, Danish police, in coordination with German authorities and with intelligence support from Mossad, arrested an Afghan-Danish man in Aarhus, a city in western Denmark. The man is accused of collecting photos, evidence, and detailed information about Israeli and Jewish sites across Europe—particularly in Germany—for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), specifically the Quds Force. He was transferred to Germany and is currently in custody there. German authorities have identified him only as "Ali S," and no offici…
Accused of Spying for Mossad: Afghan Migrants Targeted by Iran's Security Agencies
During the recent 12-day war with Israel, Iranian security agencies announced, without providing any concrete evidence, at least five separate incidents involving the arrest of Afghan migrants—both individually and in groups—accused of being "Mossad agents." These arrests occurred primarily in Tehran and Mashhad. In three of these cases, Iranian authorities released videos of forced confessions recorded at police facilities. In two other cases, however—one involving 18 Afghan migrants allegedly preparing drones for operations near …
Taliban’s War on Books: How Afghanistan’s Vanishing Words Silence a Nation
Since August 2021, restrictions on freedom of expression in Afghanistan have significantly increased. In this speech, delivered at the Dawit Isaak Library in Malmö, Sweden, on May 22, I discuss how recent policies have affected book publishing, cultural production, and access to information in the country. Good afternoon, everyone, Let me begin with a simple but heartfelt thank you. Since the withdrawal of American and NATO forces from Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power, my country has largely disappeared from international he…
Exiled Teachers; Taliban Begins Ideological Purge of Afghanistan’s Schools
Since the Taliban’s return to power, the phenomenon of “exiled teachers” has spread across Afghanistan, systematically pushing experienced educators out of the national education system. Dozens of teachers with years of classroom experience have been removed from their posts by Taliban-appointed officials in the Ministry of Education and exiled to remote village schools. Their “offenses” range from lacking loyalty to the Taliban to resisting the group’s ideological influence over school curricula. This forced relocation is seen as a tactic to…
A New Tyrant in the Pamirs: Juma Khan Fateh’s Rule of Fear Over Ismailis
Nearly 150 years after the last local monarchy of Darwaz in the vast mountainous region of Badakhshan, Afghanistan, Mullah Juma Khan Fateh, a 40-year-old Taliban warlord, has emerged as the "Sultan of Darwaz"—a title that speaks to his brutal rule over the region’s religious minorities. Darwaz is located along the Amu River, bordered by Tajikistan to the north and Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province to the south. Nestled in the Pamir Mountains, it was once a small independent kingdom in historical Khorasan until Emir Abdur Rahman Khan …
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