Ten days have passed since 29 women disappeared from a women’s safe house in Kabul, and now the Ministry of Interior Affairs has released a video of a number of them. The women are still detained.
Some of the detained women in the video confess that they were encouraged by women abroad to protest against the current Afghan government.
“Nilofar Ayoubi, Mitra Mehran, Atiya Mehraban, Huda Khamoosh and Zahra Mousawi are among the women who are abroad and told us that we should protest against the government of the Islamic Emir-ate,” said a women who was detained.
“On Wednesday, a person named Rahman called us and asked for a code, and by that code they brought us to the safe house,” said a woman on the video.
TOLOnews could not reach the women for com-ment. The Ministry of Interior said that at the mo-ment there is no threat to the detained women’s lives.
“The protesting women, who chanted slogans against the Islamic Emirate, were recently detained by the forces of the Islamic Emirate. They admitted in their comments that they were receiving help from abroad and that they regret their actions. At the moment there is no threat to their lives,” said Aqel Azam, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior.
Meanwhile, the release of the confessions of these detained women has sparked widespread reactions.
“Those women named by the women protestors owe some response to all Afghans especially women activists. I hope you have realized your mistakes. You have put these women’s life at RISK. You had no advocacy strategy, security plan & even evacuation plan. Where are these detained women now? Taliban must release them immediately if not yet released. We need strong guarantees by UNAMA news,” tweeted Samira Hamidi, who ac-cording to her Twitter account is an activist from Afghanistan “currently at Amnesty.”
“The video of the confessions of the detained women is not acceptable for several reasons. First, because these confessions were made under duress and pressure when people are on the verge of death. There is no doubt that human beings struggle to survive, to live and to breathe,” said Monisa Muba-riz, co-founder of the Afghan Powerful Women’s Movement.—Tolonews
