Women arrested by the Taliban have said they are being subjected to “brutal” rape and beatings of Afghan prisoners.
They said they were arrested for begging by Taliban officials who enforced draconian new anti-begging laws before being sexually abused, tortured and forced to work in prison. Children were also allegedly detained, abused and some even beaten to death.
The women explained that they had to beg for money and food for their children because they could not find paid work after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021 and banned women from working.
Earlier this year, the Taliban passed a new law prohibiting “healthy people” who have enough money for a day’s food from begging on the streets.
The Taliban said they have “arrested” nearly 60,000 beggars in Kabul alone.
A 32-year-old mother of three said she had to move to Kabul to beg for food after her husband, who was a member of the national army of the previous Afghan government, disappeared.
After her husband disappeared, she said she went to the neighborhood councilor for help.
“He said there was no help and told me to sit by the bakery (and) maybe someone would give me something,” he told the newspaper. Guardian.
Women begging have reportedly been targeted by the new law in Kabul, where the Taliban claim to have detained nearly 60,000 people.
File image of women and children ordering bread outside a bakery in central Kabul, Afghanistan, January 14, 2022
She only learned about the Taliban’s anti-begging laws when officials stopped her car near the bakery and forced her into the vehicle after taking her son.
Then the woman supposedly She spent three days and three nights in a Taliban prison, where she was initially forced to cook, clean and do laundry for the men employed there before officials told her they would fingerprint her and record her biometric data.
Her resistance resulted in a brutal beating that left her unconscious. The 32-year-old woman claims she was then raped.
The woman said she considered suicide after her release, but concerns about who would feed her children stopped her.
Another woman arrested after begging in Kabul said she was taken to Badam Bagh prison and held there for 15 days.
The mother of a four-year-old daughter, whose husband abandoned her and her son, also said she was forced to clean and wash dishes.
She said she was beaten and raped, along with two other women, while in prison, leaving her traumatized and depressed.
The woman added that even small children who shined shoes on the street were arrested.
An Afghan woman begs for money from passing cars in the snow, with a child curled up next to her, on the road from Kabul south towards Pul-e Alam, Afghanistan, on January 17, 2022.
Another former detainee told Afghan media outlet Zan Times that two children were beaten to death in front of her while she was in prison.
“No one dared to speak,” he added. ‘If we spoke, they would beat us and call us shameless. Watching those children die before my eyes is something I will never forget.
The Taliban even included in their anti-begging law a provision for beggars who die in prison, stating that if a beggar dies in custody, the authorities will arrange for burial if the deceased has no relatives or if his family refuses to pick up. the body. .
Beggars are classified as “professional”, “destitute” or “organised” by a newly created commission, which involves taking their biometric data and fingerprints.
People classified as “indigent” are technically entitled to financial assistance after being released, but the women said they had not received any help.
One said she had been too afraid to go back to begging and was instead forced to rely on her neighbors for help.
“Nowadays I go door to door in my neighborhood, collecting hard and dry bread. “I have no choice,” he told Zan Times. ‘The Taliban are brutal and oppressive, but where can I go to complain about them? We are alone.’