Despite the Taliban assuring the world that it would respect women’s rights, stories of horrific atrocities being committed against females continue to come out of Afghanistan. Najla Ayoubi, a former Afghan judge and women’s rights activist, recently spoke about a young woman in northern Afghanistan being set on fire by Taliban fighters for “bad cooking.”
“They are forcing people to give them food and cook them food. Also, there are so many young women in the past few weeks being shipped into neighboring countries in coffins to be used as sex slaves… They also force families to marry their young daughters to Taliban fighters… I don’t see where is the promise that they think women should be going to work when we are seeing all of these atrocities,” Najla said in an interview with Sky News.
The former judge added that she was collecting information about violent attacks carried out on women by Taliban fighters, including whippings and beatings. Najla says she is in touch with thousands of her fellow activists on the ground in Afghanistan.
Najla was forced to “flee for [her] life” from Afghanistan to escape Taliban fighters because she used to speak up for women’s rights. The activist called life under the Taliban simply a “nightmare.” Najla was in a “powerful position” in the country before the Taliban seized power.
She was involved in the process of building Afghanistan’s constitution. As a lawyer, she was the Senior State Attorney at the Attorney General Office of Afghanistan, State Attorney for Parwan province, and was a judge at the Parwan Provincial Court.
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At present, Najla lives in the United States. The former judge is the head of the coalition and global programs at “Every Woman Treaty” that aims to put an end to violence against women.
A few days ago, a woman was executed in public in Taloqan, the capital city of Takhar province, for not wearing an Islamic veil. In another incident, a woman was shot for wearing “tight clothes.” There have been reports of girls as young as 12 being married off to militants. Women are being told that they cannot leave home without being accompanied by a male chaperone.
In a video obtained by Fox News, Taliban vehicles were seen zipping through Kabul streets firing all around, searching for activists and supporters of the former U.S.-backed government. There are reports of the Taliban attacking women and children with whips and sticks. The militants also fired indiscriminately at crowds in Kabul airport.
In his first press conference, long-time Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid stated that the Taliban would protect the rights of women but within the confines of Sharia law. He also promised that Afghans who had worked for the prior government would be offered amnesty.
A source, who was a former State Department contractor in Afghanistan, told the media outlet that the Taliban regime had put up an elaborate network of checkpoints all over Kabul and militants were beating up civilians attempting to reach the airport to flee Afghanistan.
“There were kids, women, babies, old women, they could barely walk. They [are in a] very bad situation, I’m telling you. At the end, I was thinking that there was like 10,000 or more than 10,000 people and they’re running into the airport… The Taliban [were] beating people and the people were jumping from the fence, the concertina wire, and also the wall,” said the source.
