Mahtab Hamdard, one of the women protestors and a former Afghan police has been imprisoned by the Taliban for more than twenty days. During the previous ‘civil’ civilian Afghan government, Mrs. Mahtab served as an officer of the Afghan National Police in the Department of Criminal Crimes in Daykundi Province.
After the country fell into the hands of the Taliban group, she stayed with her family in Afghanistan and joined the ranks of women protestors.
The Taliban forces have been strictly enforcing Sharia often treating women protestors inhumanely and subjecting them to verbal and physical violence. Mrs. Mahtab and her family fled from Kabul to Ghazni province in the southeast of Afghanistan.
One of Mahtab’s relatives says, “We were at home day and night; fear and terror surrounded us all. Mahtab was always at home and no longer had any activities against the Taliban and had given up her work.”
But Mrs. Mahtab was not spared from the violence of the Taliban, even in Ghazni. The Taliban found her residence, attacked Mahtab’s house at night handcuffed her, and took her to an unknown place.
After that, when her family went to the Taliban’s security personnel, they received a negative answer that no one named Mrs. Mahtab was imprisoned there. Then they went to the intelligence department of the Taliban, where they first faced the misbehavior of the Taliban intelligence forces. There too they received a negative answer that the intelligence had not arrested any such woman.
The members of Mahtab’s family returned home disappointed and confused. After a few days, they found out through an intermediary that Mahtab was in the prison of the Taliban intelligence. Mahtab’s family inevitably appealed to the elders and seniors of the region where they lived.
The village elders met with the intelligence personnel of the Taliban without the presence of Mahtab’s family members. They managed to successfully get Mahtab released from the prison of the Taliban intelligence.
One of Mrs. Mahtab’s relatives reportedly said, “None of our family members were present in that meeting, and we never know what was said in that session. We only heard from elders of the region that Mahtab was released because of her pregnancy and the decree of amnesty for Eid al-Fitr of Ramadan by Mullah Haibatullah, the leader of the Taliban group.”
However, the serial arrests of Mrs. Mahtab did not end there. For the second time on 27 April 2023, Mahtab was arrested again by the Taliban forces. This time, the incident of Mahtab’s capture is more tragic than before and seemed like straight out of Hollywood war movies.
On April 27, at 10:00 PM local time, eight men from the Taliban armed forces entered the house of Mrs. Hamdard through the yard wall. When the family found out that some armed people had entered the house, they closed the doors of the room from the inside to prevent the entry of the armed forces or at least to find a chance to let Mahtab escape from the house.
But the Taliban forces shot rained bullets through the windows of the house. One of Mahtab’s relatives tried to let Mahtab out of the house so she could be saved but he only managed to take her to the bathroom and hid her there.
He said in this regard: “When the Taliban forces shot at the window panes, we realized that it was not the thieves but the Taliban; surely they came again to arrest Mahtab. I took Mahtab to the bathroom and realized she was crying and sobbing, and I kept silent. I saw that her crying was getting louder, and I told her not to cry, and they would understand that you are here and they will find you very quickly. When her sobbing became louder and more, I looked at her quickly, and she gave me sad looks and promptly asked me a dangerous and unexpected request. I was surprised and cold sweat flowed from my head and body.”
She said, “I don’t want to go to Taliban’s hell anymore, and it is worse than hell and dungeon, and I am asking you to take the knife and stab it in my chest. If you don’t do it, I’ll do it myself.”
Mahtab’s relative realized that she meant every word and asked her to stop it for the sake of her unborn child.
“If I do this, I will be the murderer of you and your child in my conscience, and if you do this yourself, you will be considered the murderer of your child as well. Be patient; if they arrest you this time, we will try to free you as before. Mahtab calmed down a bit, and I looked around me to see which knives and razors were not there. Then I realized no dangerous objects were around and left the bathroom.”, he said.
The armed forces of the Taliban broke the house gate and entered the home. They turned off the electric lamps and shone their flashlights on every woman’s face. One of them ordered that they should search all the rooms and break open any room whose gate was locked. After a few minutes, the Taliban fighters found Mahtab in the bathroom. They handcuffed Mahtab and took her away.
He added: “When I got out of the bathroom, I could still hear the screams of women and children. I went near the exit gate of the house courtyard when Taliban fighters were breaking the gate. I leaned myself behind the gate, one of the armed Taliban shot and I don’t know to which way he shot. But I pulled myself back when four armed men entered the house and held me under gunpoint and tied my hands behind my back. Four armed men were standing outside the house and four other armed men went inside the rooms of the house with me. They turned off the lights of the house and looked at the women with their own lights until they found Mahtab from the bathroom and took her with them.”
The next morning Mahtab’s family went to the Taliban security personnel again, and the officials denied Mahtab’s arrest. They one=ce went to the intelligence of the Taliban who also denied arresting her and said, “Our obligations bind us, and we released her from prison once, and we have nothing to do with her anymore.”
After many searches and finding an intermediary, they found out that Mahtab is in the prison of the Taliban intelligence. But the Taliban do not allow her family to visit her.
Mahtab was two months pregnant when she was taken away. She has been in Taliban prison for some time, and her family has no information about her condition.
The relatives of Mrs. Hamdard have complained to he human rights organization and the United Nations.
Unfortunately, these organizations have not provided any fundamental help for Afghan women, Mahtab’s relatives say.
They have asked the national and international human rights organizations to release Mahtab from the Taliban prison through negotiation channels.
“Her only crime was being in the military in the previous government of Afghanistan.”, they lament.
Ultimately, this is not just Mahtab’s story but the narrative of hundreds of Afghan women who have been imprisoned due to the inhumane restrictions of the dictatorial Taliban.
Despite the “General Amnesty” announcement by the Taliban for the militaries in the previous government of Afghanistan, these serial arrests intensified after the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan and are still continuing., Afghan journalists say.
(Asadullah Jafari “Pezhman” is a Translator, Columnist, and a Former Member of the Afghan National Army. The article has been co-authored with Aman Shadkam.)
(With inputs from Hasht E Subh and Kabul Now)
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