HERAT, Afghanistan: The Taliban regime’s morality police have detained several women and girls in Afghanistan’s western province of Herat, including a 13-year-old girl who was fully covered and wearing a headscarf and face mask, according to eyewitnesses cited by Afghanistan International.
The detentions are part of a wider crackdown on women over dress and other restrictions imposed by the Taliban since its return to power in 2021.
A witness, cited by Afghanistan International, said that the Taliban regime’s morality police detained a 13-year-old girl on Sunday near the Taliban regime’s Information and Culture directorate.
The girl had reportedly just left an educational course. The witness said she screamed and called for help as the Taliban regime’s morality police detained her.
Several nearby shopkeepers protested, Afghanistan International reported. They reportedly shouted that they were ashamed to watch women being detained. “Shame on us that they take away and detain our women in front of us while we stand and watch.”
The morality police reportedly beat one of the men with an electric baton, leaving his face bloodied. They then forced the girl into a vehicle and drove away.
Another eyewitness said Taliban members travelling in two vehicles detained several women and girls in the Pul-e Rangina area on Sunday.
The witness said the women were observing the Taliban regime’s mandated hijab when officers forced them into the vehicles. One woman had two children with her, who cried as she was detained.
Several men asked the officers to release the women, but the personnel ignored them, according to the witness.
The witness also said that when the vehicles reached the Sufiabad area, two veiled women forcibly put a young girl who was observing the required hijab into one of the vehicles.
In another incident, an eyewitness, cited by Afghanistan International, said on Monday that two Taliban regime vehicles took away a girl from an alley known as Hammam-e Khwaja Amini.
The girl was wearing a hijab and face mask, carrying a backpack and appearing to be under 20, according to the witness.
Describing the treatment of the girl, the witness said: “It was as if they had caught a thief.”
Taliban demand payment to release detained girl
Earlier, an Afghan resident of Herat told Amu TV that Taliban regime members demanded money for the release of his daughter, who had been detained in the city.
The father, whose name was withheld by Amu TV, said morality police detained his daughter and several other women while they were shopping in Herat’s Jebrail area.
He said his daughter was wearing a long coat and complying with the required dress code at the time.
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The Taliban regime initially denied that the women were being held, but later acknowledged the detentions after family members, a neighbourhood representative and local elders repeatedly sought information, the father told Amu TV.
He said Taliban regime members demanded two guarantors and 30,000 afghanis, roughly $450, before agreeing to release his daughter.
After the family said it could not afford the amount, the Taliban reduced the demand to 20,000 afghanis and told them to return the following day because the women had to be “disciplined”, according to the father.
The daughter told her father she had not been physically beaten but that detainees had been subjected to intimidation, he said.
Some families who could not provide the money had their daughters kept in detention for several days, the father alleged.
Allegations of serious abuses in custody
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan previously confirmed that 30 women were detained in Herat on June 6 and 7.
Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban regime’s minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has said those detained were people who, in his words, were seeking to “promote improper hijab and create unrest” against the ministry.
Also Read: Taliban Rule Leaves Afghan Women Deprived of Education and Employment: UN
Zholia Parsi, a women’s rights activist who was previously imprisoned by the Taliban regime, alleged that women held in Taliban custody face serious abuses, including psychological torture, forced confessions and threats against their families.
Parsi also alleged that detainees were denied access to lawyers and family visits.
Fahim Farwak, a human rights activist, criticised the reported treatment of women, saying such actions were contrary to Islamic principles and international law.
