- Independent Senator Fatima Payman has been criticised in X
- He left the ALP in July over his views on the war in Gaza.
Independent Senator Fatima Payman has been accused of campaigning fiercely against the war in Gaza while remaining silent on Taliban rule in her home country of Afghanistan.
Senator Payman, who represents Western Australia, defected from Labor and joined the independent group in July due to irreconcilable differences with the party over the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
She was furious with the Albanian government for failing to publicly condemn Israel for its constant attacks on Gaza, and has since taken to her own social media platforms to continue her campaign against violence.
But on Thursday, political activist Drew Pavlou shared one of the senator’s final videos on the war in Gaza.
She wrote: ‘Australian Senator Fatima Payman is originally from Afghanistan.
‘Last month she made no statement when the Taliban banned the sound of women’s voices in public and introduced a regime of total gender apartheid. But she is furious about the attacks on Hezbollah.
‘Strange.’
Last month, it was widely reported that the Taliban had banned women from singing, reciting poetry or reading aloud in public because their voices were considered an “intimate” part of the body.
Social media user Drew Pavlou criticized Senator Payman on Thursday (pictured)
Senator Fatima Payman (pictured in red) is a staunch defender of Palestine.
Ms Payman has not recently posted a video on Instagram or TikTok about the ongoing oppression of women by the Taliban, as she usually does about the war in Gaza.
However, she has previously spoken about how her family were refugees who fled to Pakistan from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, before joining other family members in Perth when she was about eight years old in 2003.
According to Hansard, she has mentioned the Taliban’s continued oppression of women several times in Parliament.
Last November she gave a speech in the Senate on gender violence.
‘In Afghanistan, my country of birth, girls are denied education, in contradiction to Islamic and international laws and practices.
Women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan (pictured) are not allowed to show their faces, sing, recite poetry or read aloud in public.
‘Cruel, relentless and indiscriminate violence against women and children continues in Gaza, in contradiction to human values.
“Our duty transcends borders, transcends political divisions and demands a united front against the injustice suffered by all women in the world. I call on the Taliban in Afghanistan to allow girls access to education.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Payman for comment on Mr Pavlou’s criticism.
Senator Payman left the Labor Party “with a heavy heart and a clear conscience”, she said in July.
‘My family did not flee a war-torn country to come here as refugees so that I would remain silent when I see atrocities inflicted on innocent people.’