Arrested For 'Bad Hijab', Afghan Women Claim They Were Sexually Assaulted In Detention

Teenage girls and women who were arrested by the Taliban for "bad hijab" faced sexual violence and abuse in detention. This led to more than one woman in detention who faced sexual assault dying by suicide or attempting suicide. Some women's bodies were even found in canals or sacks. The UN said that the Taliban arrested women for "bad hijab" in December 2023 and January 2024 based on its decree that every woman must cover themselves from head to toe with only eyes visible. However, the spokesperson of the Taliban and the ministry have denied the allegation of sexual assault and the arrests based on "bad hijab". 

As per a report by The Guardian, many women who were in detention talked about being beaten and intimidated. More girls are coming forward to report that they too faced sexual assault. A woman's body was found in a canal after a few days of her arrest. Her family members said that she was sexually assaulted before her death. 

The plight of a teenager

A 16-year-old girl was arrested from a shop in west Kabul and was kept in detention for two weeks. When she returned, she was not the same girl before the arrest. When her mother hugged her, the girl cried and said, "I am dishonoured." Since that day, the teenage girl didn't eat or talk. She just remained in her room crying the entire day. The girl's family said that whatever she faced in the detention was too much for her to bear. Consequently, she met a tragic end.

“In the middle of the night, I woke up and noticed Zahra was not there. I woke up my husband and we started looking for her in all the rooms. My husband found her dead body. She had hanged herself.," the girl's mother told The Guardian. 

This was not the only case of women and girls being traumatised by the sexual violence they faced during their detention. 

A medical student recounts her horrifying experience of sexual assault in detention

Another woman, a 22-year-old medical student, spent three nights in the Taliban's prison. She was arrested in January 2024. During the detention, she was taken to the interrogation room and left alone with an older man. The man interrogated her by asking about her menstruation and marital status. 

The woman said, "I fell at his feet and begged him, ‘Please, kill me but don’t harass me'. But he said: ‘Since you are keen to die, I will kill you, but before that, let us have fun with you.’" 

The man started touching her private parts. The woman reportedly fainted twice during the interrogation. But the man poured cold water on her head. This was repeated with every woman in detention who was sent to the interrogation room. 

After being released, the medical student couldn't pull herself out of the trauma she faced. The woman said, "[Now] I can’t sleep at night, I am so scared, and every time I see the Taliban soldiers, I faint." She has tried to kill herself twice. “Once I took all of my mother’s medication, but my family took me to hospital. Every time I remember that they touched me, I can’t bear living,” she lamented. 

A university student was arrested and then her battered body came home

Then, 23-year-old University student Marina Sadat was arrested in December 2023 while she was on her way to Farabi Institute of Health Sciences where she was pursuing the course of midwifery, the only course available for women.

After 22 days of her arrest, her battered body was found in a canal stuffed in a sack in Kabul’s Paghman district. Other reports suggest that she was sexually abused. One of the interviewees lamented the situation of Marina and other women and said, "It is just brutal that a young girl goes to university and her dead body comes home." 

The conflicting statement from the Taliban ministry

However, on January 4, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue said that women were arrested because they violated the Islamic code. He said, women "violated Islamic values and rituals and encouraged society and other respected sisters to go for bad hijab … [i]n every province, those who go without hijab will be arrested.”   

Following the condemnation of the detention of women in Afghanistan and other countries around the globe, the statement of the Taliban ministry changed. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman denied the fact that women were arrested for "bad hijab". On the allegations of sexual assault, a spokesman said, "The issue of rape is not at all possible because there is not just one or two people [in the room with a prisoner] and when there are three people, such a crime would not happen …[this is] a very sensitive issue for the Taliban. I am sure such a thing did not happen.”

A conference has been called by the UN on June 30 on Afghanistan in Doha in which the Taliban is also going to participate. The UN has said that no woman from the Taliban will attend the conference and there will be no discussion on women's rights.