Fear of Sexual Assault Won’t Hamper My Fight For Freedom, Says Afghan Rights Activist
Waheeda Amiri, a women's rights activist, has stated that even if Taliban members had raped her in prison, it would not have impacted her fight for freedom.
Waheeda Amiri, a women's rights activist, has stated that even if Taliban members had raped her in prison, it would not have impacted her fight for freedom.
In an interview with Afghanistan International, Amiri said that the Taliban view women who fight against them as sexual slaves.
She shared that while she feared being raped in Taliban custody, it made no difference to her as she stood in defense of the women and people of Afghanistan, regardless of the consequences.
Amiri emphasised that a person only enters the struggle if they have experienced pain. She described her pain as being deprived of education during the Taliban's first regime in the 1990s. At that time, she was in the first grade and, due to being denied education, she remained illiterate until the age of 20.
The women's rights activist added that the Taliban forces repeatedly fired at their protests and used tear gas, but she was not afraid of the Taliban's violence. She continued her fight for the women of Afghanistan, especially in protest against the closure of girls' schools.
Amiri also noted that the Taliban's oppressive actions against activists and women's rights movements have caused women's protests to diminish on the streets of Afghanistan.
However, she stressed that the Taliban's violence against women has turned them into a serious movement, with their voices being heard more than ever worldwide.
Previously, the US State Department's annual report on human rights mentioned that 16 out of 90 women imprisoned in Jawzjan, Faryab, and Samangan had become pregnant after being raped by Taliban members.
The report also noted that the Taliban had executed at least four women in Samangan after they were repeatedly raped by its members.
In a joint report published in July by The Guardian and Rukhshana Media, it was revealed that Taliban members had gang-raped a female human rights activist in prison. The activist stated that the Taliban threatened to release a video of the sexual assault if she continued her protests against the group.
