Anti-migration activist who tried to show Afghanistan was safe is released after nine months in Taliban custody

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An Austrian far right-nationalist who went to Afghanistan to try and show it was a safe country has been released after nine months in Taliban custody.

Herbert Fritz, 84, reached Doha in the early hours of Sunday after he was let go following mediation efforts to secure his release by the Qatari government.

Mr Fritz had gone to Afghanistan to paint the Taliban-ruled country in a positive light, despite huge concerns among the international community over the Islamist group’s misogynist regime.

His trip initially fuelled false anti-migration arguments back home that Afghanistan was a safe country to which refugees who had fled the Taliban could return, according to Austria’s Der Standard newspaper.

But it later emerged that Mr Fritz had been arrested on suspicion of spying, the report added. His case was made public in May by Austrian neo-Nazis via Telegram channels.

Mr Fritz arrived in Doha, Qatar from Afghanistan on Sunday afternoon and would receive medical treatment, if necessary, before continuing on to Austria, the Austrian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer thanked the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his team for their “strong support in releasing one of our citizens from prison in Afghanistan”.

“It is only due to our trusted collaboration that this Austrian citizen will be able to return home to his daughter and grandchildren,” Mr Nehammer said on X, formerly Twitter.

Qatar’s foreign ministry also released a statement that expressed gratitude to the “caretaker government in Afghanistan” for releasing the Austrian far-right figure. No country is yet to formally recognise the Taliban as the legitimate administration in Afghanistan since it took power by force in August 2021.

“The State of Qatar has proven, regionally and globally, that it is a trusted international partner in various important issues, and it spares no effort in harnessing its energy and ability in the areas of mediation, preventive diplomacy, and settling disputes through peaceful means,” it said.

The Der Standard report said Mr Fritz was in custody just weeks after his article entitled “Vacation with the Taliban” was published in a far-right magazine, in which he had given a positive view of life in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime.

Mr Fritz founded an extreme right-wing group called National Democratic Party (NDP) which was banned in 1988.

He is also described as a traveler to dangerous locations, visiting Afghanistan in the 1980s and more recently visiting Kurds fighting against the Isis group in northern Syria.

His reports on Afghanistan failed to mention widespread systemic abuse by the Taliban against women and minorities in the country.

In a repeat of their abusive rule from the Nineties, the Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade, attributing the decisions on their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

They rolled out harsh measures, including stoning, lashing and public execution after taking control of the country in 2021, despite initially promising more moderate rule.

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