During Taliban rule, women live in darkness, difficulty, and suffocation. In addition to social exclusion, this group has denied women’s most basic human rights for over a year. Women’s protests and attempts to reflect their voices have not stopped during this time, but these protests and civil reactions have been met with suppression, detention, and forced confession. In the most recent incident, the Taliban detained one of the protesting women and her three companions while they were announcing the formation of a civil organization, and journalists were not permitted to cover the event. However, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, UNAMA, and Amnesty International have expressed concern over the continued detention of women.
On Thursday, November 3, the Taliban arrested, one female protester and four men during a press conference in the west of Kabul. One of the protesting women told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that this press conference was held to announce the existence of a women’s protest movement in the west of Kabul, and the Taliban did not allow the coverage of this event.
This female protester confirms to the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the Taliban, in addition to disrupting the press conference, also beat up the participants. He, who refuses to get mentioned in the report due to fear of the Taliban, says: “They came to Mirzaei Center in the Dasht-e Barchi area and took our phones. I took my phone with many difficulties back from the Taliban militants and left the saloon. They check the girls one by one and no one else was allowed [to leave]. They took Ms. Zarifa Yaqoubi with them along with four or five other guys who were in the program.”
In an interview with the Hasht-e Subh Daily, a reliable source confirmed that the Taliban called the family of Zarifa Yaqoubi, one of the protesters, around 11:00 on Thursday night, November 3, and asked her “mahram” to be present at the Taliban’s security authority. Zarifa Yaqoubi’s sister and brother-in-law went to the Taliban Interior Security Department after receiving a phone call from the department, the source claims. This source also confirms, citing the Taliban, that Ms. Yaqoubi’s investigation is complete, and her relatives have been promised that she and her companions will be released on Friday, November 4.
According to the source, four young boys were also arrested with Mrs. Yaqoubi. This protester confirms that these are four colleagues of Ms. Yaqoubi who wanted to gain membership in the “Afghanistan Women Movement for Equality”. She mentions “Mohammed Reza Saazish, Mohammad Sirat, Mohammad Alem Hekmat, and Hussain Jan” as male colleagues in this movement. This female protester, on the other hand, emphasizes that no arrest will prevent them from pursuing “justice and the right to protest,” and that they will continue to protest until the women’s demands are met.
At the same time, sources report that UNAMA in Kabul did its best to release these detainees from the custody of the Taliban group. According to these sources, UNAMA has shared its concern about the arrest and detention of these people with the Taliban and is in contact with the officials of the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior and the families of the detainees. This organization is in contact with the Taliban regarding the situation of the detainees. UNAMA has added: “Zarifa and four others were arrested yesterday in Kabul.” All Afghans have the fundamental right to a peaceful gathering, freedom of expression, and freedom of opinion, without fear of intimidation or arrest.” In addition to this office, the spokesperson of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva on Friday, November 3, also expressed his concern about the arrest of Zarifa Yaqoubi and Four of her male colleagues. The office’s statement quoted Jeremy Lawrence, one of the office’s spokespersons, as saying: “We have received very disturbing reports that yesterday afternoon in Kabul, a number of the security officials of the Taliban disrupted the press conference of a women’s civil society organization, and a woman named Zarifa Yaqoubi and four of her male colleagues were arrested.” In Lawrence’s statement, it was also said that the Taliban fighters detained the female participants in the conference room for an hour and released them after searching their bodies and their mobile phones, but they arrested one girl and four boys. The statement states: “All Afghans have the right of a peaceful gathering, freedom of expression, and freedom of opinion, without fear of arrest or intimidation. We ask the current authorities to respect these rights.” The office of the spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva has stated: “Afghanistan as a country is a member of a number of international human rights treaties and conventions, including the United Nations Convention against Torture. We ask the current authorities to respect the rights of all those detained. The rights of the detainees must be respected. There must be instantaneous communication to let detainees know where their family members are being held. Family members should be allowed to visit prisoners, and prisoners should have access to medical care and a lawyer.”
Meanwhile, a human rights organization based in Washington under the name “Freedom Now”, which protects individuals and communities from government repression, has also expressed: “The Taliban attacked a civil society press conference in Kabul and arrested human rights defender Zarifa Yaqoubi and four of her colleagues. We demand that Ms. Yaqoubi and her colleagues be released immediately, and we urge the Taliban to stop suppressing civil society.”
On the other hand, Samira Hamidi, one of the officials of Amnesty International in South Asia, tweeted: “Zarifa and her colleagues were arrested 24 hours ago, and no one knows what happened to them since then. They wanted to make an announcement about a new movement. The press was also invited to the conference. Similarly, last year, the Taliban [arrested] and disappeared Tamanna Paryani for several weeks, and the Taliban’s foreign minister lied about her [arrest] in Oslo.”
Also, Mohibullah Taib, the advisor and head of the Embassy & Permanent Mission of Afghanistan in Geneva, Switzerland, speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, says: “The Taliban have a bad history of violating human rights, arbitrarily arresting, and creating terror in the media and peaceful communities. After regaining control over Afghanistan, despite the expectations that some countries had from them, it was seen that there was no change in their behavior, they want on to rule by creating fear and terror.”
The human rights officer of the Embassy & Permanent Mission of Afghanistan in Geneva states: “Afghanistan is committed to seven important conventions related to human rights, and many commitments as a member state of the United Nations. Therefore, those who are trying to interact with the Taliban because of humanitarian aid or in any way should emphasize more on these human rights issues.” According to him, the Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights [for Afghanistan] can play a valuable role in this regard.
The human rights officer of the Embassy & Permanent Mission of Afghanistan in Geneva, Switzerland adds that reaching the human rights situation in Afghanistan requires a “higher level monitoring” mechanism that can identify the perpetrators of human rights violations and ensure justice for the victims. The Taliban has a long history of the arrest and suppressing protesting women and girls, the arrest and ban on the news coverage of women’s civil society conferences that happened recently, is not new, the Taliban have suppressed women protestors many times before too, and they were not allowed to protest and hold a press conference. On January 31, 2022, the Taliban arrested about 40 protesting girls and women. The Taliban authorities did not accept the arrest of the protesters at that time, but after at least 20 days, they released the protesting women and girls after taking forced confessions from them. After that, they continued to suppress and arrest the protesting women. The fighters of this group and their Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice have continued to impose strict restrictions on women in society. On Monday, September 12, the Taliban’s Directorate of the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Kandahar province detained four women who were UN employees for several hours on the charge of “promoting prostitution” and “improper hijab”. The detainees were the employees of the organizations of immigration, children, and women of the United Nations. In addition to this, on Saturday, October 1, in the west of Kabul, the Taliban suppressed the protest march of female students using guns and stun batons. These students protested against the suicide attack that happened on Friday, September 30, in a classroom at the Kaaj Educational Training Center in Kabul. After the attack on the educational center in the west of Kabul, the female protesters in Kabul. Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif provinces were severely suppressed by the Taliban. Several protesters were arrested and their mobile phones were broken by the Taliban. In addition to the violent confrontation, the Taliban in Balkh province have taken guarantees from the families of protesting students to not allow their daughters to participate in protest marches from now on. In addition to these suppressions, On Sunday, October 30, the Taliban did not allow female students who were not wearing burqas to enter Badakhshan University. When the female students did not receive permission to enter the university, they protested and were severely suppressed by the Taliban. Several female students at Badakhshan University claimed that the president of this university used abusive language against the protesting students. According to them, the president of the university said to the female students abusively and violently: “You girls are whores and bitches!”
In addition to arresting and torturing girls and women, the Taliban expelled more than 100 female students from the dormitory of Kabul University. Sources from Kabul University told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that these female students were expelled from the dormitory, and some of them were even expelled from the university because of their [plan to protest against] the suicide attack that happened at the Kaaj Educational Training Center in the west of Kabul.
Despite the global pressure and the widespread concerns of international human rights organizations about the widespread violation of women’s rights under the rule of this group, the Taliban have continued to suppress and arrest women and have emphasized that they give rights to women in the light of Islamic Sharia rules. However, the protesting women and several religious scholars believe that education is mandatory for Muslim men and women, and they believe that the Taliban did not follow Islamic rules and values, and deprived girls above the sixth grade of the right to education. The Protesting women have described last year as a suffocating, dark and horrendous year for all Afghan women.
Amin Kawa-Senior Reporter and Analyst, Hasht-e Subh Daily
