Tamana Zaryab Paryani and her four sisters arrived in Germany on Thursday after two unsuccessful attempts to flee Afghanistan. The five sisters were among the female Afghan protesters who had been arrested by the Taliban in early 2022.
Zarmina Paryani told Afghanistan International that the five sisters had been barred from leaving Afghanistan. Paryani added that she and her four sisters had been detained by the Taliban twice while trying to flee Afghanistan.
The five sisters finally entered Pakistan from the Spin Boldak border crossing on August 15, 2022, and then reached Germany on Thursday.
After the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021 and imposed severe restrictions on women, including the ban on girls' education, Afghan female rights activists held several protests in Kabul.
Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) raided the house of these activists on January 19, 2022, and detained four of the sisters including Tamana Paryani, Zarmina Paryani, Karishma Paryani, and Shafiqa Paryani from their house in Kabul. They were in Taliban detention for 26 days.
Shortly after their detention, national and international rights groups condemned the Taliban's crackdown on these female activists and demanded their immediate release.
Zarmina Paryani told Afghanistan International that after their release from the Taliban detention, they tried to enter Pakistan from Torkham border crossing for the first time on May 19, 2022, but the Taliban intelligence agents detained and imprisoned them.
According to her, the Taliban took them to Kabul and imprisoned the sisters for 10 days.
"When we were identified at the border of Torkham, we were very scared," Paryani said. “Dr. Bashir, the head of Taliban intelligence in Nangarhar, threatened us with death warnings, several times. After a round of interrogation, in the middle of the night, while we were treated badly, humiliated and insulted, Taliban transferred us back to Kabul with five of their men. They imprisoned us for another 10 days.”
According to Paryani, after their release from the Taliban detention, they tried to flee Afghanistan again. This time they got identified and detained again, but without their sister Tamana Zaryab Paryani.
For the third time, the five sisters fled Afghanistan through Spin Boldak in Kandahar province and escaped to Pakistan.
Paryani added that they paid the smugglers to prepare a fake ID card to be able to leave Afghanistan. She said that during their trip, they wore the traditional Kandahari dress, and tried to look similar to Kandahari women.
Tamana Zaryab Paryani is one of the female activists who along with many others protested against the Taliban in the first days of the group's return to Afghanistan.
Paryani, who is 25-years-old, is a champion of bodybuilding and the winner of two gold medals in Afghanistan.
