An Afghan woman has claimed that a former Taliban spokesman forcibly married her and raped her repeatedly. In a video posted online, the medical student details the alleged abuse and says she fears she may be killed. Taliban Qari Saeed Khosty says the marriage was consensual but the Muslim “faith is weak”.
An Afghan woman has claimed that former Taliban spokesman Qari Saeed Khosty forcibly married her and raped her repeatedly. In a video that went viral online, a tearful woman identified herself as Elaha and claimed that Khosty forcibly married her in January. “He raped me every night. He tortured me and beat me every night,” she said. Elaha said she was a student at Kabul Medical University and the daughter of a former general who worked at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Kabul under the US-backed government. In the video, which includes images showing her injuries, she also claimed that Khosty filmed her rape and blackmailed her with it. Elaha recounts one time he tried to escape before being arrested by Taliban officials at the Torkham border crossing into Pakistan. She claimed to be a prisoner and ordered to apologize to Khosty and kiss his feet. “After posting this video, maybe no one will see me again, I might get killed. But dying once is better than dying a thousand times,” Elaha said. CBS News spoke with a friend of Elaha’s, who confirmed her story and said she is still desperate to leave the country. Khosty, who was removed from his role as spokesman for the Taliban’s interior ministry in March, took to Twitter to deny the allegations. He claimed the marriage was consensual and says there were problems because the Muslim “faith is weak”. He had decided to divorce her because she insulted the Koran, he said In his tweet, Khosty apologized to the Taliban for taking Elaha as his second wife, which violated the group’s new ban on taking multiple wives last year. Khosty did not respond to Insider’s request for comment. The story continues A video also circulated on social media showing Elaha’s mother using a broom to prevent Khosty from entering her home. Another video appears to show Khosty at Elaha’s house. Khosty is heard warning Elaha that he has armed men with him. Elaha can be seen injured in a hospital bed in another video. Journalist Ruchi Kumar said on Twitter that she verified the accuracy of the videos. He added that he had heard reports of many women related to former Afghan security officials facing abuse, sexual assault and forced marriage by Taliban fighters. “The ‘amnesty’ apparently does not extend to the women in their family,” she noted, referring to the group’s pledge not to seek reprisals against former government officials. Despite promises of amnesty, there are constant reports of former government officials and activists being targeted by the Taliban.
The Taliban have dismantled structures to protect women and girls from violence
Taliban fighters fired into the air as they broke up a rare gathering of women chanting “Bread, work and freedom” and marched in front of the education ministry building, days ahead of the first anniversary of the hardline Islamists’ return to power, August 13, 2022 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Nava Jamshidi/Getty Images Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, international charities have raised concerns about the group’s treatment of women. According to UN Women, the militant group has systematically excluded women and girls from public life since its takeover, including banning girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade and preventing women from holding many jobs. outside the house. The group also dismantled structures to protect women and girls from violence, including closing shelters, legal aid programs, and specialized prosecution units and courts, according to Human Rights Watch. A Twitter account claiming to belong to a Kabul court tweeted on Wednesday that Elaha had been arrested for defamation, but the tweet was said to be fake by both the Taliban-run Supreme Court and Elaha’s friend , according to CBS News. In response to Elaha’s video, the hashtag #JusticeForElaha took off on social media in support of her. Samira Hamidi, an Amnesty International activist based in South Asia, called on the United Nations to save Elaha. “Elaha, a medical student’s testimony of her forced marriage, rape and torture by a powerful Taliban gunman is a shocking reality of what dozens of women and girls face,” she tweeted. Read the original article on Business Insider
