On May 18, 2026, Taliban intelligence forces raided and closed the Baran Health Sciences Institute and arrested one of the institute’s founders its director, administrative manager, academic manager, and seven instructors.

The Baran Health Sciences Institute is a private educational center that provides health education, including to women. Taliban forces previously closed the institute and arrested its director and staff in June 2024.

During the raid, the Taliban arrested the Institute’s director, Ali Najafi, along with its administrative director Abdul Haq Shafiq, academic director Mohammad Hassan Akbari, and seven instructors. Najafi and the instructors were released on bail a few hours later.

Taliban officials also asked the Institutes instructors and staff to guarantee that Navid Mozaffari, one of the Institute’s founders, would report to the Taliban Intelligence Directorate. Mozaffari was arrested after traveling to the province where the Institute is located. At the time of writing, no publicly available information indicated the status of Mazaffari, Shafiq, or Akbari.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the arbitrary arrest of university staff. Absent further evidence of wrongdoing, these arrests suggests an effort to retaliate against or deter academic work or views — conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Afghanistan is a party. State authorities must respect academic freedom and nonviolent expressive conduct and refrain from actions intended to punish, restrict, or deter such conduct. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, such actions undermine academic freedom and higher education more generally.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://8am.media/eng/taliban-shut-down-baran-health-sciences-institute-in-bamiyan-and-detain-its-staff/
https://atlaspress.news/en/2026/05/21/taliban-shuts-bamyan-baran-health-institute-arrests-officials/
https://www.khaama.com/baran-health-institute-shut-down-in-bamyan/