KABUL – They were the trailblazers of women’s rights in Afghanistan. They were the staunch defenders of the law, seeking justice for their country’s most marginalised. But now, more than 220 female Afghan judges are in hiding due to fear of retribution under Taliban rule. Six former female judges spoke to the BBC from secret locations across Afghanistan. All of their names have been changed for their safety. Throughout her career as a judge, Masooma…
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A two-member Supreme Court bench has suspended the Peshawar High Court (PHC) decision and ordered the distribution of the property of a deceased person among all the legal heirs in accordance with the Islamic law. The case was heard by Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Yahya Afridi pertaining to a property dispute in Swat. Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked that the decision of ‘Jirga’ in the said case was not greater than the divine…
Cooped up at home in Herat, Afghanistan, Zainab Muhammadi reminisces about hanging out with her friends in the cafeteria after coding class. Now she logs on every day to secret online lessons. Her school shut down after the Taliban took control of the country in August. But that did not stop Muhammadi from learning. “There are threats and dangers to girls like me. If the Taliban get to know … they might punish me severely.…
ISLAMABAD: The global powers and aid groups that loudly demanded an inclusive Afghanistan under the Taliban are now facing criticism for sending all-male delegations to Kabul to meet the hardline Islamists. Since seizing power in August, the Taliban have excluded women from their new caretaker government and put restrictions on work and education, drawing condemnation from the outside world. But female representation has been little better among some governments and aid groups in their meetings…
LONDON (BBC): When Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, hundreds of female judges went into hiding. The Taliban had opened prisons across the country, freeing the very men the judges once incarcerated. Twenty-six of those women have now escaped to Greece, and the BBC travelled there to meet them. For their safety, their names have been changed. Close to midnight, the phone rang. With the pick-up location confirmed, it was time to leave. Dressed in a…
KABUL: Women activists in Kabul held up signs that read “why is the world watching us die in silence?” on Tuesday, protesting the international community’s inaction on the crisis in Afghanistan. Around a dozen women risked the wrath of the Taliban, who have banned demonstrations and shut them down using violence since taking power in August, holding banners affirming their “right to education” and “right to work”, before the Islamists stopped the press from approaching…
A number of Afghan women took to the streets in Kabul on Tuesday in reaction to what they said are limitations in exercising their rights, and criticized the silence of the international community, including the United Nations and human rights institutions, over the issue. The women protesting in Kabul said although more than two months have passed, the Islamic Emirate has failed to pave the way for girls to return to schools or women to…
UNITED NATIONS: A group of Afghan women urged the United Nations to block the Taliban from gaining a seat at the world body, calling for better representation for their country during a visit to the organisation’s New York headquarters on Thursday. “It’s very simple,” former Afghan politician and peace negotiator Fawzia Koofi told reporters outside the UN Security Council in New York. “The UN needs to give that seat to somebody who respects the rights…
KABUL — The Taliban imposed further restrictions on female city government employees in Afghanistan’s capital on Thursday, barring many from returning to work next week in a sign that the group will continue to restrict women’s rights despite two decades of freedoms under the previous government. Neamatullah Barakzai, the Taliban’s head of public awareness for the Kabul municipality, said many female city employees were told not to come to their jobs while officials prepare a…
KABUL: The Taliban struck several journalists to prevent media coverage of a women’s rights protest in Kabul Thursday. A group of about 20 women marched from near the ministry of education to the ministry of finance in the Afghan capital. Wearing colourful headscarves they shouted slogans including: “Don’t politicise education”, as traffic drove by shortly before 10 am. The women held placards saying: “We don’t have the rights to study and work”, and “Joblessness, poverty,…
At least 20 women took the streets of Kabul on Thursday and protested against the Taliban for not opening the doors of schools for girls. The all-women protest which was staged in front of the ministry of education, turned violent with the Taliban as the latter started beating journalists and women. Though the protest was peaceful and the Taliban allowed the protestors to walk from the ministry of education to the ministry of finance, turned…