Afghanistan: What happened to the women who protested against the Taliban?

After the Taliban restricted Afghan women’s ability to work, study and go out in public, some women initially rebelled against the new rules, taking to the streets to protest.

But soon people who flocked to the capital Kabul and other major cities demanding “food, jobs and freedom” felt the full force of the Taliban’s power.

Protesters told the BBC they have been beaten, ill-treated, jailed and even threatened with stoning to death.

After the Taliban came to power on August 15, 2021, and began restricting women’s freedom, we spoke to three women who spoke out against the Taliban regime.

After Taliban militants took over Kabul on August 15, 2021, Zakia’s life began to unravel.

She was the family’s main breadwinner before the Taliban returned to power, but lost her job soon after.

When Zakia (not her real name) joined a protest in December 2022, more than a year later, it was the first time she had the opportunity to express her anger at losing her right to work and education.

The protesters were marching to Kabul University, chosen for its “symbolic importance,” but were stopped before reaching their destination.

Zakia was shouting slogans when Taliban paramilitary police put an end to her short-lived insurgency.

“One of them put a gun to my mouth and threatened to kill me on the spot if I didn’t shut up,” she recalled.

Zakia saw fellow protesters being packed into cars.

“I resisted. They twisted my arms,” ​​she said. “They tried to put me in a Taliban car and other protesters were pulling me to try to free me.”

In the end, Zakia managed to escape, but what she saw that day left her fearful for the future.

“Violence no longer happens behind closed doors but in public on the streets of Kabul,” she said.

Mariam (not her real name) and Parwana Ibrahimkhair Nijlabi, a 23-year-old student, were among many Afghan protesters detained after the Taliban took power.

Mariam was a widow and the sole breadwinner for her children, so when the Taliban introduced rules restricting women’s work, she feared she would no longer be able to provide for her family.

She attended a protest in December 2022. When she saw fellow protesters being arrested, she tried to flee but was too late.

“They forcibly dragged me out of the taxi, searched my bag and found my mobile phone,” she recalled.

When she refused to give the passcode to Taliban officials, one of them punched her hard enough to rupture her eardrum.

They then went through the videos and photos stored on her phone.

“They became enraged and grabbed me by my hair,” she said. “They grabbed me by my hands and feet and threw me into the back of a Ranger.”

“They were very violent and called me a whore multiple times,” Mariam continued. “They handcuffed me and put a black bag over my head so I couldn’t breathe.”

A month later, Parwana and her fellow students decided to protest against the Taliban and organized several demonstrations.

However, their actions were soon met with retaliation.

“They started torturing me the moment they arrested me,” Parwana said.

She was seated between two armed male guards.

“When I refused to sit there, they moved me to the front, put a blanket over my head and pointed the gun at me and told me not to move.”

Parwana said she began to feel “weak, like a walking corpse” surrounded by so many heavily armed men.

“He slapped me so many times that my face was numb. I was so scared, my whole body was shaking.”

Mariam, Parwana and Zakia were well aware of the possible consequences of public protests.

Parwana said she did not expect the Taliban to “treat me like a human being”, but was still surprised by the degrading treatment.

Her first meal in prison shocked her.

“I felt something sharp scratching the inside of my mouth,” she said. “I looked and it was a nail. I spat it out.”

Later during her meal, she discovered hair and a stone.

Parwana said she was told she would be stoned to death and that she cried herself to sleep at night and dreamed of being stoned while still wearing her helmet.

The 23-year-old was accused of promoting immoral activities, prostitution and spreading Western culture and was jailed for about a month.

Mariam was held in a security cell for several days and interrogated with a black bag over her head.

“I heard some people kicking me and asking who asked me to do this. [the] “Some people protested,” she recalled. “Another one was hitting me and saying, ‘Who do you work for?’

Mariam said she told her interrogators that she was a widow and needed work to support her children, but that her response led to further violence.

Parwana and Mariam were released separately following the intervention of human rights groups and local elders and no longer live in Afghanistan.

Both men say they were forced to sign confessions admitting their guilt and promising not to take part in any protests against the Taliban.

Their male relatives also signed an official document pledging the women not to take part in future protests.

We raised these allegations with Zabihullah Mujahid, a senior Taliban government spokesman, who acknowledged that female protesters had been arrested but denied that they had been mistreated.

“Some of the women arrested were involved in activities against the government and public safety,” he said.

He disputed the women’s account and denied that torture had taken place: “There is no violence in Islamic Emirate prisons and food is approved by our medical teams.”

Independent interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch with several protesters after their release corroborated the account heard by the BBC.

“The Taliban are using all forms of torture to make people’s families pay for their protests, sometimes holding them and their children in appalling conditions,” said Ferishta Abbasi of Human Rights Watch.

Zaman Soltani, an Amnesty International researcher who spoke to several protesters after their release, said the prison lacked basic facilities.

“There is no heating in winter, prisoners are not properly fed and health and safety issues are not taken into consideration at all,” Soltani said.

When the Taliban came to power, they allowed women to continue working and attending school, but only in accordance with Afghan culture and Sharia law.

The government continues to insist that the ban on girls attending school beyond the sixth grade is temporary, but has made no clear commitment to reopening secondary schools for girls.

Returning to Afghanistan, Zakia took another chance and tried to start a tutoring centre to educate girls, but this also failed.

“When young women gather in one place on a regular basis, they feel threatened,” she said sadly. “The Taliban have had their way. I am confined to my own home.”

She still meets with fellow activists, but they are not planning protests. They make occasional anonymous statements on social media.

When asked about her dreams for Afghanistan, she broke down into tears.

“There is nothing I can do. We no longer exist and women are excluded from public life,” she said. “All we wanted was basic rights, was that too much to ask for?”