In the beginning, there were three giants, punishing a woman for a crime she didn’t commit. They remove her veil and take her to a room where a pipe and broom are in one corner. She had nothing with her except her body, but now she had no control over even that one body anymore. The Taliban use a pipe, broom, their teeth, and body parts for the sexual torture of this woman. They intended to kill her through torture, but she didn’t die; she survived to narrate what had happened to her. This woman is one of the dozens who have had a horrifying and inhumane experience at the hands of the Taliban. In over two years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, women have witnessed various forms of violence. During these two years, women have been detained and imprisoned by the Taliban on various charges. The exact situation these women are going through is not clear. The unsafe environment, especially homes and streets created by the Taliban for women raises the question: How will women fare in surveillance houses and prisons—closed spaces accessible only to the fighters of this group?
This report covers the current situation of women’s prisons in the provinces of Takhar, Baghlan, and Kunduz, along with the accounts of women who have experienced arrest and imprisonment in these three provinces. Findings from the Hasht-e Subh Daily’s interviews with incarcerated women indicate that women’s prisons have turned into centers for the torture of women and safe havens for the Taliban’s sexual assaults on women. Most of the incarcerated women in these prisons are Tajik and Uzbek. In these prisons, there are underage girls, women heads of households, protesting women, and former government employees imprisoned. Most of these prisoners have been detained on charges of “illicit relationships,” “moral corruption,” collaboration with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), collaboration with ISIS, protest and opposition to the Taliban regime, and theft. Women in these prisons endure harsh and inhumane conditions. According to the Hasht-e Subh Daily’s findings, incarcerated women have experienced severe torture, electric shocks, death threats, sexual harassment, and forced marriage to Taliban fighters. These women are also given contaminated food, and their hygiene, especially menstrual hygiene, is neglected. Poor women in prison have no hope of release; they are forced to endure the Taliban’s torture and assault or surrender themselves to the Taliban forever, becoming Taliban wives.
This report on the status of incarcerated women in three northeastern provinces of the country is divided into two sections: the first section is dedicated to the accounts of women who have experienced Taliban captivity in the provinces of Baghlan, Takhar, and Kunduz, while the second section covers the current situation of female prisoners in these three provinces. The information in the report has been gathered through interviews conducted over the past two months. To ensure security, the identities of the prisoners are not disclosed in the report, and pseudonyms are used instead of real names.
Part One: The Initial Stage of Captivity in the Grip of the Taliban
The Hasht-e Subh Daily has spoken with women who have experienced imprisonment and arrest by the Taliban in the provinces of Takhar, Kunduz, and Baghlan. All of these interviewees have a terrifying and harrowing experience of what they went through after their arrest. They have experienced torture, sexual abuse, forced confessions, coercion into collaboration, death threats, and forced marriages with Taliban members since falling into the Taliban’s trap.
Findings indicate that the Taliban, without prior notice, apprehend individuals through intimidation and terror, without committing any crime or even having their crime defined. Taliban Detention Officers, without adhering to any laws or regulations or even which institution of the group they belong to, detain women. Individuals affiliated with the Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, intelligence, and those associated with the security command of this group, sometimes wearing Taliban police uniforms and sometimes in plain clothes with a military vest without prior notice, forcibly arrest women from their homes or the streets using intimidation and violence.
Maryam is one of the women who had a suitable job and a peaceful life with her husband and children before the arrival of the Taliban until they captured her. However, in reality, she is not detained by the Taliban but abducted. She says, “I was leaving the office where I worked, with my veil on, heading towards our business with my husband and children, when a Taliban ranger intercepted us on the road. They forced me out of the vehicle and ordered my husband to leave with our children. The Taliban didn’t say anything to either my husband or me. They made me get into the back of the ranger. There were no women among them. I couldn’t understand most of what they were saying because they were speaking in a dialect of Pashto. I thought maybe they would take me to a security command center or a checkpoint, but where they took me was neither. It looked more like a private house. We entered a courtyard with a large iron gate. They took me inside and threw me into a room. They took my veil and started beating and tormenting me.” In the house where Maryam was taken, there were no female Taliban police, and no woman was present during the ordeal.
Protesting against the Taliban comes with a hefty price tag, your life! Women, however, have become subjects of rebellion against the Taliban. They have turned the streets into arenas of their fight, bare-handed. Yet, the Taliban swiftly ensnare and execute anyone who dares to raise even the slightest voice against their group.
Radhika, one of the protesting women who has coordinated many street and home demonstrations, has endured the lash and torture of the Taliban. She has come close to being arrested numerous times but managed to escape.
The first time Radhika falls into the hands of the Taliban is after her protest against the ban on women’s work. The day after her protest in the city where she resides, an explosion occurs, claimed by the ISIS group. During those days, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), and the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) also made advances in the northern part of the country, posing a threat to the Taliban. The Taliban were seeking those on whom they could forcibly accept their concocted truths and coerce them into admitting false charges and confessing to crimes they hadn’t committed.
When Radhika and her family were sitting around the breakfast table, they were interrupted by her arrest. Two women, dressed entirely in black, with black gloves on their hands and black glasses on their eyes, detained Radhika. Radhika recalls, “Without any greetings, they said, ‘Are you Radhika?’ I said yes, and without giving me a chance, they grabbed my hands tightly.” Radhika’s mother tries to inquire about the situation, but they pay no attention. One of them enters the house with her shoes on, grabs Radhika’s phone, and says, “We’re taking her to the Security Command Center,” before leaving the courtyard. Radhika’s younger brother is also going with her sister in the ranger. Their faces are covered with a black scarf, and they are taken to the Taliban’s Security Command Center. Upon entering the center, the two women hand over Radhika’s phone to a “big guy” and leave. Radhika adds, “I was the only woman present in the security command center. Every moment a Taliban member would come and insult us and hurl abuse.” They keep Radhika and her brother in their office until lunch. According to her, the Taliban had beaten them so much that, as she says, “They made footballs out of us.”
In the afternoon that day, Radhika and her brother, with their faces covered in black bags, are transferred elsewhere [it is later revealed that it was the National Directorate of Security Main Office]. She recalls, “They said to my brother, “You dishonorable people throw your sisters under the Americans. For twenty years, they roamed openly, cozying up to foreigners; you’re not true Muslims. You can’t even manage your women who dare to oppose the Islamic government [Taliban].”
Taliban’s prisons are filled with women arrested on charges of “moral corruption.” A grand and weighty title with numerous branches. Findings indicate that those imprisoned on charges of “moral corruption” either pay a ransom for their freedom, which is every individual’s right, or the accusation is merely a pretext for imprisoning women and committing injustice against them.
Given the suffocating and harsh conditions created by the Taliban, few are willing to freely stroll with their loved ones in the city or cafes, fearing falling into the hands of the Taliban. This is especially true in provinces like Kunduz and Baghlan, where there weren’t many restaurants suitable for two-person visits – a girl and a boy – during the Republic era. Now, with the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women and city cafes, it seems impossible. However, the Taliban’s female spies, who collaborate with them in the Taliban’s arrest process, hide in the city and cafes, eavesdropping on girls’ conversations through their mobile phones.
Sarah is one of the girls who fell victim to the Taliban spies’ false accusations. Refusing to give ten thousand Afghanis to a Taliban spy led to her arrest and imprisonment, but the goal wasn’t merely to imprison her. Sarah was waiting for her friend, with whom she was supposed to go shopping in the city, at one of the city cafes. During the time she was waiting for her friend, she had phone conversations with three people, including her cousin, her friend, and a boy who was her friend. Meanwhile, a veiled woman was present in the same cafe where Sarah was waiting. When Sarah ended the call with her friends, the woman told her, “I’ll introduce you to the authorities.” Confused, Sarah hastily asked why. The woman, who was a Taliban spy, told her she had noticed her talking to a man. Sarah explained that the man was just her friend, and there was no romantic involvement between them. The woman demanded money from Sarah to let her go, but all Sarah had was a thousand and three hundred Afghanis. When she realized she wouldn’t get any money from Sarah, she informed her colleagues/the Taliban.
Sarah, insulted and humiliated, is taken into custody by the Taliban security forces. Paralyzed with fear, she cannot do anything. She repeatedly asks them to check her phone so they can call the boy she is talking to, but her requests fall on deaf ears. They demand money and the original ownership document of their house, but Sarah’s father neither has the money they demanded nor a personal house. They lived in a rented house. Sarah’s father is given an ultimatum to provide the money and the ownership document as collateral. On the other hand, Sarah is told that if she agrees to marry, they will release her from custody. Sarah refuses, and before the deadline set for her father expires, they throw her into prison.
A Narrative of Torture in Prison; Women Made into Footballs
After coming to power, the Taliban subjected women to torture in various ways in the streets, security zones, and prisons. They also engaged in rape and sexual harassment. The exact number of women who have suffered sexual harassment by the Taliban and those who have been tortured is unclear due to reasons such as the Taliban’s strict control over the leakage of this information, incidents occurring in closed rooms, cultural norms, and fear of the Taliban if the truth is spoken. Especially in provinces where women are under the Taliban’s captivity and the chains of traditions, many incidents remain hidden due to their cultural “honor norms,” and few are willing to speak about it. Nevertheless, reports and findings indicate that women have experienced sexual and physical violence as well as verbal abuse by the Taliban. The testimonies of those interviewed to document this report confirm this.
Radhika, in an interview with the Hasht-e Subh Daily, said, “Every Taliban militant who passed by us would strike us with fists and kicks. They made footballs out of us.” After Radhika was transferred to the intelligence headquarters of this group, interrogation of her began. An interrogation where each question was accompanied by a beating. When Radhika’s words angered the Taliban, they would strike her head with rifle butts and subject her entire body to beating until evening. She suffered injuries to her head and back, injuries that still haunt her.
Furthermore, Sarah, a young girl falsely imprisoned by the Taliban, speaks of the days she spent in prison: “Every day was torture and agony. I remained silent and never spoke out. One day they told me to come out, and there a man dressed in white and clean clothes asked me to marry him as a condition for my release. But I refused.” At the command of that same man in white clothes, they tied Radhika to a pole and whipped her.
Torture of Sexual Organs and Sexual Assault Against Women
The Taliban do not stop at torture, humiliation, and insult; they also subject women to sexual torture. Once a person is arrested, they no longer have any rights over their body and life. The Taliban consider the individual’s body as their own conquered territory and, gleeful from the spoils obtained, they impose whatever they desire upon them. They unload their entire twenty-year complex of war, terror, explosions, and self-immolation, which they claim to have carried out to preserve the hijab of women and establish Islamic law, onto a woman’s body in captivity.
According to findings from the Hasht-e Subh Daily from Takhar province in the past six months, eight cases of sexual assault against women by the Taliban have occurred. Among these, one incident took place in August last year, where the Taliban security commander, Mawlawi Nasrullah Hazifa, abducted a girl detained in a detention center, transferred her to an undisclosed location, and subjected her to rape. A source speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily says, “Takhar security zones are not safe places for girls. A detained woman is either beaten or sexually harassed. If she is more unfortunate or has fallen victim to a specific complex, it gets even worse for her.” “It gets even worse” means sexual assault.
Taliban have private prisons in Kunduz province. Although the number of these prisons is not clear, it is noteworthy that the Taliban have detained several women and transferred them to their private prisons. One of the interviewees had a horrific and heartbreaking experience of sexual harassment in one of these prisons.
Maryam is subjected to sexual harassment by the Taliban in a group setting. They create the situation of Maryam so dire that when her husband sees her, he tells her, “I don’t want you anymore.” Taliban militants go in pairs to the room where Maryam is and torture her. The torture inflicted upon Mayam is so egregious that it shames the writer from even putting it into words, leaving them feeling embarrassed and ashamed.
In a corner of the room where Maryam was, they had placed a hand broom. With that broom and later a pipe, they subjected Maryam to a condition where even speaking, hearing, and writing about it is painful and torturous. However, Maryam endured all this torture in a single day of her life. She recalls that painful moment as follows: “First, they took the broom and hit my breasts and buttocks with it. It’s hard to describe what they did to me, and it’s difficult to say. One of them told the other to take the same pipe and thrust it into her vagina and anus. Then they laughed.” Three Taliban torturers showed Maryam their long robes, saying, “Did you want to defile our robes?” They intended to sexually assault Maryam, she says, “While my resistance was taken away from me, one of them was pulling my breasts while telling the other to thrust the broom into my vagina.”
She remembers only three or four of those who sexually assaulted her. She had been tortured to the extent that the intensity of pain, anger, and torment had robbed her of the ability to see, and she did not want to see what they were doing to her. After extensive torture, new individuals arrive in the evening; they beat Maryam so severely with a pipe that she faints. She doesn’t know how long she was unconscious, but she guesses it was for about an hour. Maryam didn’t know what condition she was in while unconscious, but the signs were evident on her body. “When I opened my eyes, there was a woman in the room; they called her ‘Moor, Moor.’ [In Pashto it means mother, mother!] I didn’t know what she had to do with them.”
After being released, Maryam is brought home. “At my home, when my husband saw my body, my body was a mess, my chest, shoulders, and back were bruised, they had made my entire body black and blue. I couldn’t sit down, and the inner parts of my legs hurt.” After that incident, Maryam’s husband decides to divorce her, but he eventually backs down from this decision. Maryam sells her paternal inheritance and flees to a neighboring country with her husband through smuggling routes.
Women are forced to confess to crimes they haven’t committed
In totalitarian regimes, there is no control over limiting military/police forces; individuals are detained without their crimes being proven, without any referral of their case to the court, and are thrown into prison without due process. In such systems, intimidation, and torture are tools of pressure used to extract confessions. The Taliban regime, like any other totalitarian regime, detains individuals without their crimes being proven or having committed any criminal acts, and resorts to coercion and force to obtain forced confessions. Reports on the situation of Taliban prisoners confirm that the Taliban use painful methods such as electric shocks, amputation, drowning, and beating to obtain their desired forced confessions.
What is noteworthy about the Taliban’s actions is their resort to torture not just for forced confessions, as the detained/prisoner essentially has nothing to confess and hasn’t committed any crime to confess under pressure. Rather, it’s more about hearing the words they’ve predetermined for the detainees to recite. The Taliban are very keen on fabricating criminal cases for the individuals they detain. They attempt to pin incidents on detainees that they have no connection to and couldn’t have been involved in. Regarding explosions and ongoing insecurity, they want to use those detained, whose crimes are unknown, as bait for themselves. When they imprison women, they label them as “agents of Western countries” and accuse them of collaborating with foreigners or being involved in resistance fronts.
A few days before Radhika was arrested, some women protested, and the next day after the protest, there was an explosion in the city of Takhar province. The Taliban accused Radhika of involvement in the explosion and collaboration with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF). They sought to force Radhika to accept these charges through torture and beating. She says, “They accused me of collaborating with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF). They took the names of resistance members and asked me about my connections with them and who supports me.” They repeatedly read these accusations and questions to Radhika to coerce her into accepting them. However, Radhika’s response was clear; she explained her fight for her rights and resisted their questions accompanied by torture. Her steadfastness infuriated them even more. When Radhika responded to a Taliban question, “Why didn’t you raise your voice when America occupied the country?” by saying, “If you hadn’t made people’s lives miserable and hadn’t engaged in war and crime, America wouldn’t have found the opportunity to come to Afghanistan,” they hit her with the butt of a rifle on her head and neck. The next day, they interrogated Radhika again and summoned her for interrogation and confession. Despite the intensity of the torture, Radhika could barely lift her head or stand. As she sat for interrogation, a Taliban officer told her, “Surely you’ve come to your senses now to give the right answer.” However, Radhika neither could speak nor sit.
For Maryam, detention came at the cost of sexual harassment. When the Taliban harassed, tortured, and tormented her, they asked her about her connections with Western organizations and institutions and who she was working with. They wanted Sarah, whom they had arrested on charges of “moral corruption” and “illicit relationship,” to admit that she had an “illicit relationship” with a boy she had been in contact with over the phone. Sarah says, “They forced me to accept it. They made me confess when I was detained and even when I was imprisoned.” Sarah made it clear to them that she did not have a romantic relationship with that boy and he was just a friend.
Forced Marriage With the Taliban militants: a way to escape from prison
The Taliban consider forced marriage and wedlock between a detained woman and a man as a means of her liberation from captivity. Findings by the Hasht-e Subh Daily indicate that the number of girls falling into the hands of the Taliban are compelled to marry either Taliban members or their affiliates. If a prisoner agrees to marry a Taliban member, she is set free. At least two of those interviewed, one in Baghlan province and the other in Kunduz province, have been coerced by the Taliban into marriage after being imprisoned.
When Sarah refuses the Taliban’s marriage proposal, she is tortured. Sarah had not committed any crime and believed nobody could keep her in prison for long. “If I stayed in prison longer, a Taliban member would take me away, like they did with other women. I was forced to marry someone else who is at least not a Taliban member,” she says. Sarah’s family considers finding a man for her to marry as a way to “cleanse the stain on their honor.” However, for Nasrin, they cannot find a non-Taliban man willing to marry her.
Nasrin was a self-reliant woman whose husband had died in an accident years ago. After spending several days and nights in Taliban captivity, when she is taken to the fourth security district of Kunduz province for interrogation, she is told that if she wants to avoid prison, “infamy,” and leaving her children homeless, she must marry. At that moment, she refuses. However, after spending some time in prison, despite her wishes, she is forced to marry for the sake of her children. According to Nasrin: “They said it’s not that difficult. They’ll just give a name [the man whom she has to marry.], so my children have a guardian, and I can get rid of the scandal. I couldn’t believe it, but I had to. I knew where my fate would lead, so I accepted it and now I’m bearing the consequences of it.”
Direct Shooting: Consequence for Defying the Taliban
The Taliban do not release individuals they imprison without any guarantees. Even if the detained person has not committed any crime, they still extract “commitment and guarantee” from them not to take any action against the Taliban. In case of any such action, the Taliban reserves the right to deprive the individual of freedom and life. Moreover, this group requests money from families for the release of prisoners. Upon release, the detained person’s biometric data, passport, and National ID card are recorded. Reports from the Hasht-e Subh Daily, along with statements from interviewed individuals in this report, confirm these assertions.
The Taliban release Radhika while recording her passport and National ID card. They take a written guarantee from her stating that if she commits any act against the Taliban again, she will be sentenced to life imprisonment or be subject to direct shooting without the right to defend herself. The document emphasizes that “if the smallest act of disobedience occurs from your side, the order will be given to fire directly upon you.” In this document, the fingerprints of Radhika, her brother, and other tribal elders who came to negotiate Radhika’s release, are listed. Similarly, Maryam, in exchange for her release, pays a sum of money to the Taliban through the organization where she worked.
Girls whose families cannot afford to pay money to the Taliban are forced to endure captivity and Taliban torture. If Sarah were not poor, she wouldn’t have ended up in prison and wouldn’t have become a victim of forced marriage. She was unable to pay money to the Taliban and was forced to accept captivity, torture, and forced marriage. Nasrin also says, “If your family is wealthy, there is hope for your release.”
Part Two: The Situation of Women’s Prisons in Takhar, Kunduz, and Baghlan Provinces
Women in Taliban prisons in Kunduz, Takhar, and Baghlan provinces face horrifying conditions. Lack of facilities, absence of medical care, inadequate hygiene supplies, degradation, torture, beating, sexual harassment, and contaminated food are among the issues present in these prisons. According to findings from the Hasht-e Subh Daily, currently, 107 women are imprisoned in Takhar and Baghlan prisons, and the exact number of women prisoners in Kunduz is not available. The findings indicate that currently, 7 women in Takhar and Baghlan prisons are engaged in activities such as cooking, guarding, and inspecting. Besides lacking personal safety, they are sometimes asked to torture prisoners, and if they hesitate, they face beatings and abuse.
Based on findings from the Hasht-e Subh Daily in recent months, two women from Takhar prison and one from Baghlan prison have been taken out under the pretext of sending to a doctor and being ill, and their fate is unknown. Taliban authorities in these prisons continue to retain any woman prisoner with themselves as they choose for as long as they wish, or they force them into marriage. One released prisoner, who was a victim of forced marriage, confirms that the Taliban coerce female prisoners into accepting their sexual demands and marrying them. She adds that during her imprisonment, Mrs. (B) was repeatedly solicited by one of the Taliban commanders, who works in the men’s prison, to satisfy his sexual needs.
Most of the prisoners in the prisons of these three provinces are detained for various reasons, including charges of “moral corruption,” “illicit relationships,” fleeing from home, former government employees, political and civil activists, collaboration with ISIS and the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), theft, murder, and improper attire. Most of these women have not been proven guilty, and they lack legal files. Sources suggest that the fate of many of these women is uncertain. Some are transferred to Kabul prisons after spending some time in these prisons.
The Situation of Women in Baghlan Province Prison
Baghlan Province’s women’s prison is located in the Kalehgai district where the men’s prison is also situated. In this prison, five women work as cooks and inspectors, while 53 women and girls under the age of 18 are incarcerated. Most of these prisoners are Tajik and from the Andarab region of the province. Among them are mothers with young children. According to interviewees, women in this prison endure deplorable conditions, lacking even the most basic amenities. Hygiene for women is neglected, and sanitary supplies for menstrual cycles are not provided.
Children imprisoned with their mothers receive neither care nor clothing. A released woman, speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, said, “Prisoners request undergarments and cloth from their female guards due to bloodstains from menstruation. Women with young children receive no attention for their offspring, sometimes pleading with prison guards to procure clothes for their kids.”
The findings of the report indicate that most of these inmates are imprisoned on charges of moral corruption, fleeing from home, collaboration with resistance fronts, and theft. Yet, no woman in the prison has been spared from torture or violence. A source revealed, “When they intend to torture a woman, they tie her to a pole and order women working in the prison to whip and beat her. If a woman’s hand trembles or hesitates during the beating, the Taliban member, who has come to witness the torture, takes matters into his own hands. He beats both the female prison worker and the female prisoner. When a mother is tortured in front of her child, the child cries so much that even a stone-hearted person would melt, but the Taliban have no ears to hear and no hearts to burn.”
Furthermore, the women’s prison in Baghlan province has become a place where Taliban commanders select women for their sexual desires and, in some cases, as wives. At least two sources confirmed this to the Hasht-e Subh Daily. They say that Taliban officials sometimes visit women prisoners and take a woman they like with them, especially those whose families do not visit them and it is unclear whether their families are aware of their imprisonment or not.
Another issue occurring in Baghlan prison is the contamination of women prisoners’ food. Typically, prison cooks prepare two pots of food, contaminating the one designated for the prisoners with impurities. According to one interviewee, these impurities are added to prevent the women from becoming aggressive and to keep them calm. However, the interviewee was unsure of the exact function of these substances and speculated that they might be intended to prevent aggression among the prisoners.
The Situation of Women in Takhar Province Prison
In Takhar province, there are two women’s prisons: one is a public prison, and the other is under the control of the Taliban’s Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The public prison in Takhar accommodates 54 women, including girls under the age of 18. Most of the female prisoners are Tajik and Uzbek. Two women in this prison work as inspectors, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and no woman other than the prisoners is present in the prison at night.
The inmates of this prison include former government employees, protesting women, and those accused of “illicit relationships,” murder, theft, writing against the Taliban on social media, and associating with Taliban opponents such as ISIS and the Resistance Fronts. According to a source, women accused of having connections with Taliban opponents are transferred to Kabul after spending 5-6 months in prison.
The head of the prison is a man named “Qari Bismillah Ashrafi,” and the prison cook is also a man. In this women’s prison, inmates receive basic religious education, and issues related to “hijab” and “chastity” are emphasized. Both a man and a woman are responsible for providing religious education to these prisoners.
According to findings by the Hasht-e Subh Daily, the Taliban spared no form of torture in this prison. There is a separate room in this prison designated for punishing women, equipped with various tools for torture. Regardless of age or accusation, women’s punishment includes electric shocks, beating, and whipping. The torture of women is carried out by Taliban male militants. A source speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily said, “During torture, one militant holds the woman firmly while another beats her with a whip or punches and kicks her.” The source further adds, “Women whose moral corruption is deemed severe and have evidence against them are stoned to death.”
One of the interviewees emphasized to the Hasht-e Subh Daily that due to the high volume and diversity of torture methods in this prison, no woman has the right to keep her child in prison. The children of female inmates are either handed over to their relatives or sent to orphanages. The visitation rights for prisoners depend on the condition of the female inmate. A source told the Hasht-e Subh Daily, “Some women are not allowed to see anyone. At times when a prisoner is too weak due to torture or when the signs of torture are visible on their body, they are not allowed to see anyone until they recover.”
Taliban commanders sometimes come to this prison to see young girls and women. Since the Taliban are responsible for the care of female prisoners and no other woman is present there at night except female inmates, information about the women’s condition at night is not available. However, according to interviews conducted with prisoners of this prison, in recent months, a girl under the age of 18 who was arrested on charges of “illicit relations” with her boyfriend was brought to this prison. When this girl is taken to the interrogation room, she becomes unconscious. After hours, she is transferred to the infirmary, and it is told to the prisoners that she has had a brain stroke. However, the truth remains concealed from everyone except the Taliban who imprisoned her and were in the interrogation room with her.
The Situation of Women in Kunduz Province Prison
Kunduz Women’s Prison is a section of the male prison in Kunduz, with a section designated for women (the female section). Women in this prison are taken after undergoing multi-stage interrogations and spending some time in security zone containers. There is no precise data or information available about this prison. However, according to one of the interviewees in this report, every woman brought to this prison has undergone several stages of violence. Female prisoners are either taken to a personal prison commanded by a Taliban commander responsible for their detention or subjected to prolonged periods of pressure and torture in the security zone.
This woman, who is now married to a Taliban militant, was imprisoned solely for living with her young children. She was an independent woman whom the Taliban arrested on charges of affairs with men. However, it later became evident that the main reason for her imprisonment was to become a sexual partner for the Taliban. She says, “They accused me of having relationships with unrelated men and called me a prostitute. When I was in custody, they asked me for money and property documents, but I didn’t have any. In prison, a Taliban militant proposed marriage to me so that my children would have a guardian, and I wouldn’t remain there for the rest of my life.” She says that those who have money have hope of being released, but poor women must either submit to the Taliban or endure imprisonment, torture, and occasional harassment by the Taliban.
Over the past two years, media outlets and human rights organizations have published numerous reports of human rights violations by the Taliban in Afghanistan, containing various accounts of the lives of women under Taliban rule. These organizations have repeatedly reacted to and expressed concerns about the sexual abuse, beatings, arrests, and horrific torture of women by this group.
Previously, the situation of women prisoners in the prisons of three northern provinces of the country was reported by the Hasht-e Subh Daily, which contained information about women prisoners who had been repeatedly assaulted. However, the content of this report indicates the grim situation and the Taliban’s use of inhumane torture methods against female prisoners in the northeast of the country, which is noteworthy.
It is worth noting that despite the repeated concerns expressed by organizations about the Taliban’s treatment of imprisoned individuals, the group continues to insist that their actions are following the principles of Islamic Sharia law.
Previously, Amnesty International expressed concern about the situation of protesters and other human rights activists imprisoned by the Taliban in a statement. The organization has called on Abdul Haq Wasiq, the head of Taliban intelligence, to refrain from torture, harassment, and mistreatment of prisoners and allow them access to defense lawyers, their families, and health and sanitation facilities.
Meanwhile, UNAMA, in its latest report, once again stated that human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings by the Taliban, continue. Despite numerous commitments to the world, the group has not taken any measures to respect human rights in Afghanistan.