Afghanistan: Women in Taliban prisons face abuse, rape

This article contains accounts of rape, torture, and suicide.

In the three years since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, many accounts have surfaced detailing torture and sexual abuse in the country's prisons.

One of them grabbed global headlines in July 2024, after the British newspaper The Guardian reported on the rape of a female human rights activist that was caught on video. The video, made by the Taliban, shows armed men raping and torturing the inmate. Apparently, the Taliban sent the video to the women after she was released in an attempt to blackmail her and ensure her silence. She managed to flee the country and send the video to Afghan journalists, with the story eventually making its way to the British paper.

"We reported on the Taliban raping and torturing female inmates a week before The Guardian," Afghan-Canadian reporter Zahra Nader told DW. The 34-year-old is the editor-in-chief of the online magazine Zan Times. She launched the magazine in August 2022 to give a voice to Afghan girls and women in their homeland, with the publication relying on the reporting of a small group of female journalists inside and outside Afghanistan in both Dari and English.

Women locked up 'at random'

Their local network has been investigating the fate of detained women in Afghanistan and the reports of torture, sexual assault, and rape.

"No one knows exactly how many women are imprisoned in Afghanistan," Nader says.

"The Taliban refuse to confirm many of the arrests. We don't know what is the condition of the women who are imprisoned. Many of them have been arrested at random," she told DW.

"Witnesses report that the Taliban often detain young women who are out and about without a male escort, even if they wear a hijab."

The women disappear into overcrowded female prisons and are left at the mercy of men running the facility.

"There is no justice or judiciary in Afghanistan," Nadir says, "no prosecution. The Taliban don't even agree on the hijab rules for women. What is wrong and what is right depends on the group and the locality."

Many women decide to take their own lives

The Taliban have imposed draconian limitations on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan since taking over the country in the summer of 2021. Women were banned from public life, denied education and jobs, and had to contend with restrictions on their freedom of movement. They are now only allowed to be out in public if they are accompanied by a male chaperone, a Mahram.

Those fighting the oppression are imprisoned, and some of them disappear without a trace. Others are released but are unable to go back to their lives.

"Some kill themselves after being released," said Nader. Last month, her magazine reported on the accounts of young women who had been arrested on hijab-related "offenses," tortured and sexually abused in jail,  and then took their own lives.

Lilma Dawlatzai has her own story of trauma. She was not raped during her time in prison but suffered brutal torture. Before the Taliban takeover, she served as the head of the women's council in the Chaharbulak district of the Balkh province. With the pro-Western government falling, she went into hiding and sought refuge with her friends.

"But, they found me," she tells DW. "I ended up in a prison where they beat me and attacked me with knives. They put salt on my wounds."

Dawlatzai eventually made a deal with one of the Taliban. She gave him all of her property in Afghanistan, and managed to leave the prison with his help. Eventually she fled the country and is now living in Germany.

"The Taliban have no mercy," Dawlatzai says. "They didn't even let me wash my hands and face to pray after religious rituals. They treat prisoners any way they like."

Taliban want to bring back stoning

In the wake of all other oppressive measures against women, the Taliban are now planning to reintroduce public stoning. They are already using lashing, hanging and shooting as methods of punishment. The next step is to stone women for adultery, according to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhunzada.

In March, he released an audio message directed at the Western governments.

"You may call it a violation of women's rights when we publicly stone or flog them for committing adultery," he said. 

"[But] I represent Allah, and you represent Satan."

This article was translated from German by Darko Janjevic.

Edited by: Shamil Shams