Raees Zazai, a resident of Paktia who was beaten by President Ghani’s guards after he tried to approach the president at the end of his speech at a ceremony in Herat last year in December, said on Thursday that he had been asked by the Presidential Palace, the Arg, to stay silent and that he has never met with Ghani.

Zazai, who reportedly had a complaint letter in his hand when he attempted to approach the president, was escorted out of the venue by President Ghani’s guards.

Days after that, the President’s media office published the photos of Zazai and his mother and wrote that they have been brought to Kabul to address their legal issues.

Zazai’s family said he wanted to hand a complaint letter to the president over their grabbed lands and properties.

On Wednesday, Zazai’s family claimed that in the last eight months, they have not seen Zazai and that their problems also remained unsolved.

Zazai told TOLOnews that he was brought to Kabul to visit Ghani, but this did not happen.

My demand from the president is that first he should visit me and my family. And then he should order the judicial originations, the Attorney General’s Office, the court or any other relevant department where our case is underwork to address our problem as soon as possible, Zazai said.

I have been in a guesthouse of the National Directorate of Security for the past eight months. I am safe but I have not visited my family, Zazai added.

Zazai’s mother, Lal Banda, said claimed that they were threatened by the Presidential Palace to ignore what happened to Zazai by the president’s guards, otherwise, their complaints regarding their lands and properties will not be addressed.

President Ghani’s deputy spokesman Shahussain Murtazawi on Wednesday, June 12, said Zazai is at an NDS guesthouse and that his problems are being addressed.

What has been said by Mr. Zazai’s family is baseless, Murtazawi said in a voice message sent to TOLOnews. Facilities were provided for him (Zazai) after he raised his complaint.

A legal expert, Wahid Farzaee, said the law has not allowed the government to deprive anyone of his/her freedom the way that Zazai has been kept.

Based on his Zazai’s family’s remarks, if he has not been in contact with his family in eight months, then it is oppression by the government against the personal rights of a man who used his rights for freedom of speech, Farzaee said.