In a joint report by The Guardian and Rukhshana Media, an Afghan women’s rights activist has claimed that she was gang-raped in a Taliban prison.
The report, published on Wednesday, July 3, states that the Taliban recorded the assault and sent the video to the victim, warning her to remain silent or they would make the footage public.
The Guardian and Rukhshana Media reported that they have viewed the video, which shows the woman being gang-raped and tortured by armed men in a Taliban prison.
The report states: “According to the activist, the film was recorded on a mobile phone and later sent to her as a threat, indicating that if she continued speaking out against the Taliban regime, it would be shared more widely.”
In the video, the woman is ordered to undress and is repeatedly assaulted by two men. The report mentions that the victim attempts to cover her face with her hands.
At one point in the video, one of the assailants says, “For all these years, the Americans fucked you, and now it is our turn.”
The woman stated that she was arrested for participating in public protests against the Taliban and was sexually assaulted while in their custody.
She added, “After my statements against the Taliban in exile, this film was sent to me, with the threat that if I continued to criticize the regime, the video would be sent to my family and shared on social media.”
It is worth noting that the Hasht-e Subh Daily reported on May 15 of the previous year about the dire conditions of women in Taliban prisons in the provinces of Jawzjan, Faryab, and Samangan.
The report detailed instances of humiliation, abuse, physical torture, and sexual assault experienced by female prisoners in Taliban-run prisons in the northern provinces of Afghanistan.
Following the publication of this report, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, told The Spectator that the United Nations would investigate the matter.
