Taliban Arrests Gangrape Victim in Kapisa Province, Claim Sources

Local sources from Kapisa province reported that the Taliban members arrested a 35-year-old woman, Niloufar, who is a gangrape victim, and imprisoned her.

According to sources, the woman has been in Taliban custody for the past eight days in the centre of Kapisa province.

Sources from Kapisa province told Afghanistan International that a group of men gang-raped Niloufar at her home in the village of Aruki in Kapisa province on Friday, November 22.

Sources claimed that the five perpetrators of the gangrape are members of Niloufar's husband's family. According to them, one of the perpetrators has been identified as "Mayel Agha" and is a member of the Taliban in Kapisa.

Local sources said that after Niloufar was sexually assaulted in her home, she started making noise, and locals heard her voice and informed the Taliban. The Taliban were able to arrest one person on charges of involvement in the rape, and four others fled the scene.

The Taliban has not yet commented on the reason for Niloufar's arrest.

‘Victims of Domestic Violence Imprisoned’

Women's rights activists said that after the Taliban’s takeover, the safe houses that sheltered women victims of domestic violence were abolished and the Taliban kept these women in prisons.

Before August 2021, the shelters operated under the umbrella of the Ministry of Women's Affairs.

Upon entering Kabul, the Taliban abolished the Ministry of Women's Affairs and replaced it with the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Earlier, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a report in December quoted some Taliban officials as saying they were imprisoning "women without a mahram" who were victims of violence.

UNAMA has said that the imprisonment of women "in order to protect them" deprives these victims of their freedom.