On July 3, 2024, The Guardian reported a shocking case of Taliban’s sexual assault on a female prisoner. Taliban insurgents filmed a gang rape of a female prisoner and sent it to her later, threatening her that if she did not remain silent it would be released. This woman courageously sent the clip to several media outlets, including “Rukhshana.” On June 25, 2024, The Guardian also covered cases of rape and sexual harassment of girls who were detained and assaulted by brutal enforcers of the moral policing for the “crime” of not obeying “Islamic hijab”.
Violence, harassment, and sexual assault against women are tools used by fascist religious groups, not only revealing their depravity and brutality but also serving as means of terrorization, suppression, and breaking down protest and resistance. This is not the first example of the Taliban’s and other fundamentalist groups’ depravity; we have numerous examples both in Afghanistan and around the world where religious fascists have raped and tortured women. During the years of bloodshed and violence under Jihadists’ rule, many women in Kabul were sexually assaulted, and these criminals did not hesitate to rape a 7-year-old child and 70-year-old mothers. The Unity Party turned Cinema Barikot and Polytechnic University into centers for assaults on women, and similarly, Ahmad Shah Massoud and Sayyaf gunmen raped women in Afshar area of Kabul; Gulbuddin in Karte Naw and Chilsatoon, and Dostum’s in Shah Shahid and the Shar-e-Kuhna. Every day, painful cases of sexual assault on young girls and boys in mosques and schools in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other Islamic countries are leaked to the media. The criminals of the theocratic regime of Iran raped girls the night before their execution to ensure as virgins they wouldn’t go to heaven; bloodthirsty ISIS militants enslaved countless Yazidi women in Iraq; the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt raped women during protests against Mohamed Morsi; the Pakistani military, with the help of Bangladesh’s Islamic Jamaat, raped hundreds of women in 1971; Boko Haram militants in Nigeria repeatedly kidnapped groups of schoolgirls and sexually assaulted them for months; and other examples.
One should not expect more from the ignorant group of the Taliban, who themselves faced abuse and mistreatment in the religious schools (Madrassa) for years, and this have developed severe hatreds in them. They do not hesitate from wearing suicide belts and spilling the blood of innocent people to achieve their dream of reaching 72 heavenly virgins. The Taliban consider women as tools to satisfy their lusts, branding them as infidels and atheist, they count women as their war booty and justify all kinds of brutality against them. In part of the clip, a Taliban attacker shouts: “For years, the Americans f***ed you; now it’s our turn.”
The shame and disgrace of this horrific report fall upon the United Nations, especially the US clown called Roza Otunbayeva (Head of UNAMA), Rosemary DiCarlo (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations), Rina Amiri, and the so-called “international community”, who have knelt before the bloodthirsty Taliban leaders in Doha, cunningly and treacherously defying all conventions, the United Nations Charter, and human rights laws, and by sacrificing the women and oppressed people of Afghanistan, seek to cleanse and strengthen the inquisitorial, fascist, and aggressive administration of the “Islamic Emirate.”
The shame and filth of such an assault and violence against our women falls upon the Taliban leaders, from Mullah Hibatullah to Mullah Zabihullah Mujahid, Mullah Baradar, the Haqqani family, and others who, with bastardy try to cover up and deny such crimes and savagery. Its dirt falls upon the female traitors such as Fawzia Koofi, Habiba Sarabi, Nahid Farid, Shahrzad Akbar, Moqadasa Yourish, Asila Wardak, Zarifa Ghafari, Fatima Gailani, Jamila Afghani, Mary Akrami, Ghatool Momand, Sharifa Zarbati, Laila Jafari, and others who have been dealing with the Taliban for years and paved the way for their return to power. The filth falls on women like Mahbouba Seraj, Madina Mahboobi, Zahra Saba, Zahra Bahman, Farida Mazhab, Tayeba Hashemi, and others who have turned into Taliban lobbyists with strange baseness and dead consciences and, as pro-West figures are seeking to whitewash the crimes and facilitate the recognition of these medieval beings and mercenaries of imperialism.
The “Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan” (RAWA) bows its head in respect to that dignified and brave woman who provided the video of the Taliban gang rape to the media. The women victims of gang rape by these zombies, contrary to the rotten patriarchal culture and ethics that consider them a “family disgrace,” are resilient and brave women who should be supported and comforted by our people and justice seekers. Although in a society immersed in ignorance and darkness, sexual assault victims suffer a tortured and painful life due to taunts and “shame” but those who have the slightest conscience and honor, should consider that the victims of rape, especially those who stand against these taboos and expose and unmask the dirty enemy, are heroines and warriors who should continue the fight against the Taliban with their heads held high and with a commitment to the struggle.
Suffering Afghan sisters,
A crucial and sustained struggle against jihadist and Taliban fundamentalists and the creation of a society based on democracy and social justice is not possible without a fight, and victory in this battle requires sacrifice and steadfastness! Let us stand together and with one voice!