On September 7 and 8, 2021, the Taliban attacked a women's protest march in Mazar-e-Sharif, taking more than 70 protesters, including 40 protesting girls. The bodies of eight detainees were found on the streets of the city one week later. The rest of the detained girls and boys were released by their families’ pressure after approximately 45 days, but the fate of the nine girls remains unknown. Five of the detained girls were killed by their families after being released from Taliban custody.
The detention of girls in Mazar-e-Sharif and the fate of
protesting girls who were held in the Taliban detention center were never
reported in the media due to their families' intense fear of the Taliban and
the sensitivity of the issue in traditional Afghan society. However, four
months after the detention of the protesters, some of them are willing to talk
about what happened to the detained protesters with one condition; their
identity should not be disclosed.
A woman's rights activist from Balkh, who took part in the
September street protests in Mazar-e-Sharif and witnessed the arrest of the
girls, is one of those witnesses. For a long time, she attempted to free the
detained girls, but was forced to flee the city due to serious Taliban threats.
According to the source, the girls were detained for a week
at the police district four and then transferred to the Mazar-e-Sharif National
Security Detention Center, where they were questioned and tortured for two
weeks before being transferred to the Mazar-e-Sharif Women's Prison. "Many
of these girls were released while not in good physical or mental condition,
however, nine remain unaccounted for. The released girls report that the
Taliban have transferred the nine missing girls to the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in
Kabul."
An unnamed civil activist living in Mazar-e-Sharif confirmed
the details of the incident in an interview with The Farsi Independent, saying
she had been following the incident closely and had spoken with several girls
after they were released from Taliban custody. According to her, the released
girls have confirmed that the Taliban transferred nine of their companions to
an unknown location. She also said that a few days after the arrest of the
protesting girls and boys in Mazar-e-Sharif, on September 10th, 12th, and 16th,
she saw the bodies of six protesting girls and boys on the streets where they
lived. "In the same days, other bodies were found in other parts of the
city," the source added. "Including the bodies of a female police
officer, a female doctor, and a student who took part in the protests."
What happened to the protesting girls in the Taliban prison?
The source who spoke with The Independent
said she met at least four of the girls after they were released from Taliban
custody. She described the situation of the detained girls as "horrendous,"
saying the girls were severely tortured and repeatedly gang-raped. The girls
told me that a woman would strip them completely naked and torture them with
electric batons and whips them in the National Security Detention Center,"
the source said. "She gave the girls psychedelic pills by force and then
the Taliban gang-raped them." They also said eight of their companions
died in detention after being tortured.
According to the source, five of the girls
were killed by their families after being released from Taliban captivity. She
said one of the girls was a relative who met her when she was released from
Taliban custody. She added "I told her family that you should share this
story through the media so that your daughter's oppression can be exposed, and
that you can then file a lawsuit, but they kicked me out of their house with
insults and humiliation, and a few days later I learned that their daughter had
been killed by her own family. When I asked why they said that the girl had
been raped; "She could have been pregnant."
The source who spoke to The Independent
also confirmed the killing of the five girls in the early days of their detention.
She added that a number of families had fled Afghanistan due to Taliban threats
and social pressure after their daughters were released from Taliban captivity.
The source referred to an acquaintance who was among the released detainees
"I met her when she was suffering from memory loss due to torture and
electric shock, and she had deep wounds on her body." " She confirmed
that she had been raped several times." Her family left Afghanistan for
Iran after this incident.
The Persian Independent source also met
with a number of detained boys after their release: "The boys I met were
tortured, alike girls. "They said the Taliban had raped them."
Utilization of detained girls as Taliban informants
Another issue cited by the source is the forced recruitment
of detained girls as informants for the Taliban. She explained that some of the
girls who were released by the Taliban had been issued Taliban intelligence cards
and that the Taliban had released them under the condition that they serve as
informants.
She said: "Nine of the unreleased girls refused to spy,
and the Taliban transferred them to an unknown location. It was reported they
were taken to Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul, but it is unclear whether they
were taken there or killed."
Recent reports indicate that the Taliban has recruited women
as informants in Kabul. In Kabul, Taliban soldiers recently appeared in front
of women protesters with a list of women's names and identities, threatening to
identify all demonstrators and to arrest and torture them if they continue protesting.
This was exactly the list that was shared between the WhatsApp girls' contact
groups. It is the presence of women as informants among women's protest groups
that explains how this list, with similar characteristics, reached the Taliban.
A women's rights activist in Kabul who did not want to be
identified told The Independent Farsi that the Taliban forces a number of
protesting women and girls to serve as informants for them by threatening them
or their families.
Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, women have
expressed the greatest opposition to the Taliban’s decisions and actions. Despite
traditional beliefs about women and the status of women as the honor of
families, young women in Afghanistan have protested against injustices despite
the opposition of their families. Most of the time, families do not want to
discuss what happened to the female member of the family during the protests or
after they were arrested by the Taliban due to the threat they face by the Taliban.
There is a reluctance among families and victims of Taliban
violence to speak to the media about their stories due to the harsh censorship
of the media and the Taliban's harsh treatment of those who criticize the group
on social media. In addition, no organization or media outlet has had access to
the group's prisoners in the five months since they took over Afghanistan. The
fate of many of the victims, particularly the protesting women of
Mazar-e-Sharif and the military officers of the former government of
Afghanistan who has been detained by the Taliban for five months, is also
unknown.
Alia Azizi is one of these victims. She was employed as a police officer and as a staff member of the Herat Women's Prison when she was called to work by the Taliban in early October and then disappeared. Arif Rezaei, Alia's brother, told The Independent Farsi that he had not heard from Alia for the past four months and that the Taliban had not provided a clear explanation to Alia's family. Arif Rezaei added: "There have been rumors that Alia was transferred to Pul-e-Charkhi prison, but there has been no confirmation."
Afghanistan has been subjected to unprecedented levels of repression and suffocation due to the Taliban's lack of accountability to human rights organizations and international organizations' failure to pursue kidnapping, arrest, and execution cases in the country.
Nilofar Langar
Independent Persian
