Taliban has announced that women in Afghanistan will be stoned to death in public for adultery.

The Afghan Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, has issued a disturbing proclamation, vowing to implement brutal punishments against women in public. In a chilling voice message broadcasted on state television, Akhundzada directly addressed Western officials, dismissing concerns about violating women’s rights by stoning them to death.

"You say it’s a violation of women’s rights when we stone them to death," Akhundzada stated. "But we will soon implement the punishment for adultery. We will flog women in public. We will stone them to death in public," he declared, marking his most severe rhetoric since the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021.

These grim statements, purportedly from Akhundzada, who has seldom been seen in public except for a few outdated portraits, emanate from Afghanistan’s state TV, now under Taliban control. Akhundzada is believed to be located in southern Kandahar, the Taliban's stronghold. Despite early assurances of a more moderate regime, the Taliban swiftly reverted to harsh public penalties reminiscent of their previous rule in the late 1990s, including public executions and floggings. The United Nations has vehemently criticised these actions, urging the Taliban to cease such practices.

In his message, Akhundzada asserted that the women's rights advocated by the international community contradicted the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. Akhundzada emphasised resilience among Taliban fighters, urging them to oppose women's rights persistently. "I told the Mujahedin that we tell the Westerners that we fought against you for 20 years and we will fight 20 and even more years against you," he stated.

His remarks have sparked outrage among Afghans, with many calling for increased international pressure on the Taliban.

"The money that they receive from the international community as humanitarian aid is just feeding them against women," lamented Tala, a former civil servant from Kabul.

"As a woman, I don’t feel safe and secure in Afghanistan. Each morning starts with a barrage of notices and orders imposing restrictions and stringent rules on women, stripping away even the smallest joys and extinguishing hope for a brighter future," she added.

"We, the women, are living in prison," Tala emphasised, "And the Taliban are making it smaller for us every passing day."

Taliban authorities have also barred 330,000 girls from returning to secondary school for the third consecutive year. University doors were closed to women in December 2022 and participation in the workforce is heavily restricted.

F*** yeah! Need more of this. It’s time for the men to join the cause and fight the repression of women. 

Souce: @theafghan 

I keep seeing such comments on my notes which makes me wonder: what did I miss?

"The Handmaid's Tale" draws on global histories.

Atwood was inspired by what happened:

during the Iranian Revolution (1978-1979),

in Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos,

in Germany (The Lebensborn project),

in Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu,

in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge,

in Stalinist Russia.

She was also inspired by what happened to Argentinean women during Jorge Rafael Videla's military dictatorship which was backed by the US.

But killing the pregnant women was a crime that even Argentina’s military men – who referred to themselves in self-aggrandising speeches as defenders of “western and Christian civilisation” – couldn’t bring themselves to commit. Instead, they kept pregnant activists alive until they gave birth, murdering them afterwards and handing their babies to childless military couples to raise as their own. It was, in a macabre sense, the military’s ultimate victory against a despised enemy they had decided to annihilate completely. It is estimated some 500 children were born under these circumstances.

(x)

And what happened to Spanish women under Franco.

Known as the lost children of the Franco-era, as many as 300,000 babies are estimated to have been abducted from their mothers under General Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain from 1939-75, and in the decades after.

The theft of newborns began in the 1930’s after the Spanish Civil War as an ideological practice, stripping left-wing parents or Franco-opponents of their children as a way of ridding Marxist influence from society. But in the 1950’s, the practice expanded to poor or illegitimate families who were seen as economically or morally deficient, Agence France-Presse reports.

New mothers were often told their babies had died and the hospital had taken care of the burials. These babies were allegedly sold for adoption and involved a wide network of doctors, nurses, nuns and priests, according to AFP. The system carried on after Franco’s death in 1975 until 1987, when a new law was implemented regulating adoption.

(x)

"When I wrote 'The Handmaid's Tale', nothing went into it that had not happened in real life somewhere at some time," she said.

FUCK YOU

Cutting hair is a very old and traditional way of grieving in Iran so fuck you.

Not everything is about you. For years women have been oppressed and forced to wear hijab so fuck you. If we don't wear it properly we end up in jail, get lashed or beaten and in cases we end up dead.

Mahsa Amini wasn't the first woman to be killed because of such rules so FUCK YOU.

If we have to, then we will burn our forced hijab. We are oppressed and we need people to be our voice. So for once shut the fuck up and go fuck your selves.

"Taliban sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender **sex-based violence"

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban officials are sending Afghan women to prison to protect them from gender sex-based violence, according to a U.N. report published Thursday.

Before the Taliban seized power in 2021, there were 23 state-sponsored women protection centers in Afghanistan where survivors of gender sex-based violence could seek refuge. Now there are none, the U.N. report said.

Officials from the Taliban-led administration told the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan that there was no need for such shelters or that they were a Western concept.

The Taliban sends women to prison if they have no male relatives to stay with or if the male relatives are considered unsafe, the report said. Authorities have also asked male relatives for commitments or sworn statements that they will not harm a female relative, inviting local elders to witness the guarantee, it added.

Women are sent to prison for their protection “akin to how prisons have been used to accommodate drug addicts and homeless people in Kabul,” the report said. The Associated Press contacted Taliban-led ministries about where survivors of gender sex-based violence can seek help, what protection measures are in place, and the conviction rates for offenders, but nobody was available for comment.

Women and girls have been increasingly confined to their homes since the Taliban takeover in 2021. They are barred from education beyond sixth grade, including university, public spaces like parks, and most jobs. They are required to take a male chaperone with them on journeys of more than 72 km (45 miles) and follow a dress code. A Taliban decree in July ordered the closure of all beauty salons, one of the few remaining places that women could go to outside the home or family environment. But Afghanistan has, for years, ranked among the worst places in the world to be born female. Millions of girls were out of school before the Taliban takeover for cultural and other reasons. Child marriage, violence and abuse were widespread. Rights groups warned that Taliban rule would enable violence against women and girls and decimate any legal protections for them. Women are no longer working in the judiciary or law enforcement, not allowed to deal with crimes of gender sex-based violence, and only permitted to attend work when called upon by their male supervisors, according to the U.N. report.

Women of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, 1980s

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which first came to power in the mid-1990s, is known for its brutal suppression of women's rights and freedoms. One of the groups that was particularly targeted were women who held positions of power and influence under previous regimes, including the Marxist-Leninist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA) which was led by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) from 1978 to 1992.

The PDPA pursued a progressive agenda, including the promotion of women's rights. They encouraged women to work in various sectors, including education, and women professors and academics were prominent in universities and colleges. These reforms, however, faced fierce resistance from traditional and religious groups, including the mujahideen fighters who later formed the core of the Taliban.

When the Taliban seized power, they implemented a strict interpretation of Sharia law, which severely restricted women's rights. Women were barred from employment, including teaching positions, and were not allowed to study in schools or universities. The Taliban also sought to erase the legacy of the PDPA, including the advancements it had made in the area of women's rights.

A step back in human rights...

From yesterday, May 7th 2022, women are decreed to cover their faces in public, and if they do not, their father or closest male relative faces punishment.

Image Source: Afghan Women 1978-2006 by Alfred Yaghobzadeh

Photo of young, secular women in Afghanistan on their way to school in the late 70's and 80's while under Soviet occupation:

Women today under Taliban rule, thanks largely to the actions of the US and their operations in Afghanistan while under Soviet Occupation, and the US's later occupation:

The US never cared about women's rights in Afghanistan or anywhere else

G7 calls on Taliban to stop restricting women's rights

New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/g7-calls-on-taliban-to-stop-restricting-womens-rights/

G7 calls on Taliban to stop restricting women's rights

Paris (The Times Groupe)- The Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers said on Thursday that the Taliban’s increasing restrictions on women and girls’ rights in Afghanistan are isolating the country.

“These measures further isolate the Taliban from the international community,” said the G7 foreign ministers and European Union foreign policy chief.

French officials urged the Taliban to take immediate action to lift restrictions on women and girls, and to respect their human rights, in a joint statement.

In another step toward their past hardline rule, the Taliban, who swept back to power after the Afghan government collapsed last year, ordered women to cover their faces in public on Saturday.

As most of you have read by now, Taliban has banned women from university education. These brave Afghan women took the streets protesting the closure. It will start with university and eventually trickle down. Taliban is fearful of educated women.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said late Tuesday that no other country in the world bars women and girls from receiving an education."The Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all in Afghanistan," he warned. "This decision will come with consequences for the Taliban." 

Frankly, US can go f*** itself. They allowed this to happen. Biden allowed this to happen. What the hell did they think was going to happen once Taliban came back to power? Did they think that Taliban was going to allow women to be educated, to be free? Of course they didn’t; of course the US knew this was the end result. They didn’t care because Afghan women are nonhumans in their eyes. So, Blinken can say whatever he wants. His words are empty and the US is partly responsible for what is happening to Afghan women and to Afghanistan. The audacity of US administrations knows no limits. 

It’s up to us to help. To put pressure on western governments to do something, such as, fair refugee laws that would help these women and girls to come to the west and live normal lives. And also, pronouncing Taliban as an illegitimate government. 

Stand with the women of Afghanistan. Be their voice. Show that the world we care.

I will try to put together a link for petitions and letter writing campaigns to help Afghan women. And if you know of any, please message me. 

Source: @shabnamnasimi

Girls as young as 16 arrested in shops, classes and markets in Kabul by the Taliban, who labelled them ‘infidels’ for wearing ‘bad hijab’

Feminists, Human rights activists, where is your condemnation?

Where is your voice for these innocent young girls who are suffering at the hands of terrorists?

From file: Women and girls are increasingly losing their rights under the Taliban, including the right to education in many instances | Photo: Florian Bachmeier/IMAGO/picture-alliance

Reblog if you didn’t hear about this on the news

KABUL, Afghanistan – Taliban security forces opened fire over the heads of women who staged a rare protest in Kabul on Saturday — a violent crackdown coming just two days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the group sweeping to power in Afghanistan.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. 

About two dozen women marched down a main street of Kabul chanting "bread, work, freedom," "we want political participation" and "no to enslavement."

The protesters unfurled a large banner announcing the anniversary of the Taliban's resumption of power as a day of solidarity with Afghan women. They also demanded the international community step up to help them.

"It was important because it's nearly the first anniversary of the Taliban rule and we wanted to say that we don't consent to this government," said one young woman who spoke to NPR after the protest. She requested anonymity so she couldn't be identified by Taliban authorities. 

"After a year of this government, there is no change in the situation. We are showing that we won't stay silent," she said. "It's important to show the world that Afghans don't accept this. We will stand against injustice."

As the women marched, Taliban security forces began grabbing the phones and cameras of Afghan journalists and male international correspondents. They grabbed the phone of a boy on a bicycle who tried to take a photo.

Then, in what appeared to be a coordinated move, they opened fire in the air above the protesters, quickly dispersing them. Taliban security forces have used live fire to disperse protests in the past. But the fire this time was unusually intense: Multiple gunmen fired rapidly in the air, leaving bullet casings strewn across the street. 

Several reporters were detained, and at least three remain in custody.

The return of the Taliban to power ended four decades of conflict and has largely made the country secure. But they have dramatically curbed women's rights, preventing most girls from attending secondary school, banning women from traveling alone and making it difficult for them to work.

They've also cracked down on those criticizing their rule, which has chiefly been women demanding their equal rights. 

Meanwhile, sanctions have paralyzed the economyand plunged the country into a major humanitarian crisis with many Afghans going hungry. Major aid groups and human rights organizations have pleaded with the international community not to forget the plight of ordinary Afghans, and to allow commerce and trade to continue.

A photo of Teheran (Iran) before Khomeini and Kabul (Afghanistan) before the taliban. Where are the headscarves and veils, the nikabs and the burkas?