For International Women’s Day on March 8, Zan Times is publishing eight narratives of eight women activists who defied the Taliban. Telling their stories humanizes the struggles of so many women against the Taliban’s misogynist regime and also records their bravery in the face of imprisonment and torture chambers.
It was around 8:20 in the evening. We staged our event and recorded it. When two friends wanted to leave the house, they realized the alley was surrounded. We were all arrested. They put black bags over our heads. They insulted us and beat us. At the time of my detention, I was three months pregnant, and, when they hit me with a rifle butt, I fell into a ditch. I had a slight bleeding, but later it increased. My back hurt a lot, and my leg was injured and swollen.
In prison, we were beaten every time we spoke. Since my back was injured, I tried to remain silent so they wouldn’t beat me more, especially as they once hit my stomach with a stick, which hurt a lot.
It was close to 4:00 a.m. when they asked us about our families. Then they insulted our relatives when they arrived. For example, they said they were cuckolds, and their women were prostitutes. They demanded house documents as collateral and said that our relatives would lose their houses, and their families, if we were caught again. They insulted my husband a lot, which made me very upset.
When we were released from prison, they took the house ownership documents from us. They also took a compulsory commitment from me. I was bleeding, especially mentally and emotionally, after my release. I couldn’t stay at home but went to the homes of relatives and friends. They were scared, as if there was an atomic bomb in their house, and I was upset about this. It’s excruciating when even your relatives don’t feel good about your presence in their home.
We were detained on August 20, 2023, and I left Afghanistan in October of the same year. A year ago, in early 2023, when I was still engaged, my fiancé’s family almost cancelled our wedding as they knew about my human rights activism. Everyone said I should leave Afghanistan with my fiancé, but I didn’t want to leave.
I had given several interviews to the media and took part in several programs on March 8, 2023, which caused an onslaught on our house. My problems started earlier, when I went to university. Critics, including my family, said, “Why send the girl to engineering?” I fought from that time and tried to stand on my feet, work myself, and not have my hand in anyone’s pocket. I studied despite none of my family supporting me. I studied as far as two semesters into my master’s degree. When Kabul fell, my biggest concern was that I could no longer study. I will never forget the day they banned women from university.
Before I left Afghanistan, some tried to put me back in prison, which was terrifying. I had so many acquaintances that I was afraid I would be imprisoned again. I said to myself that I had to leave or go somewhere they couldn’t reach me.
When I finally left Afghanistan, I still faced threats. My family is still threatened, and they told my white-bearded father that he supported his daughter in shouting anti-Taliban slogans.
I cried when I left Afghanistan. I wish I could return one day.
*Shaida Nezam (pseudonym), 32 years old, graduated in engineering. She was a teacher before the Taliban came to power.
