Some 25 Afghan women were protesting outside the embassy in solidarity with the Iranians, with whom they say they share the same struggle. The concentration has barely lasted fifteen minutes
The repression that Iranian women have suffered for two weeks has been transferred this Thursday to Afghanistan. Taliban soldiers have dispersed with shots into the air a concentration of women who were demonstrating in front of the Iranian embassy in Kabul in solidarity with the Iranians, with whom they say they share the same struggle.
Some 25 Afghan women protested in front of the delegation shouting “Woman, life, freedom” and carrying banners with slogans such as “Iran has risen, now it’s our turn” or “From Kabul to Iran, say no to the dictatorship.”
They have barely been fifteen minutes until the Taliban have come to disperse the concentration. According to reports from the AFP agency present at the scene, the soldiers have destroyed the posters held by the protesters who, however, bent down to pick up the pieces to make balls of paper that they threw against the Taliban. The military have also attempted to beat protesters with sticks.
Iran has been rocked for two weeks by massive protests after the Republic Morale Police killed Mahsa Amini. The young woman, 22 years old, had been arrested for wearing the veil incorrectly – women must wear their hair fully covered in public – and she found death in the police station.
Since then, thousands of Iranian citizens, with a special role for women, have taken to the streets to challenge the regime and protest the religious imposition. So far, about 80 people have lost their lives due to the repression of the Shiite regime, led by the cleric Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic. Various personalities, such as members of the national soccer team, have shown solidarity with the women.
Difficult situation of women in Afghanistan
Since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021, there have been several sporadic demonstrations of women in the capital and in other cities of the country, despite being prohibited, either due to the loss of their job or to claim the right to work. . Some of them were forcefully repressed, and activists who had called for demonstrations were arrested by the Taliban.
After 20 years of war and the withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan, the country’s new leadership imposed very strict rules on women, especially in public life, ordering them to wear a full veil in public, preferably the burqa.
They also decreed the separation of men and women in public parks in Kabul and closed secondary schools for girls in most provinces. The dreaded Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice replaced that of Women’s Affairs.
On Tuesday, a UN report denounced these “severe restrictions” imposed on women’s rights, especially with regard to secondary education, and called on the Taliban to “immediately” revoke this measure.
The lifting of these restrictions is an essential condition for the Taliban government to be officially recognized, reiterates the international community. So far, no country has done so.
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