Bennett Calls For Support For Afghans Who Face Gender Abuse & Humanitarian Crisis

The court said that it had sentenced the defendants to 39 lashes and three to five years in prison.

The Taliban's Supreme Court announced in a statement on Tuesday, December 10, that the sentences of imprisonment and flogging of two individuals have been issued by the Primary Court of Muqur District of Ghazni Province.

According to the statement, one of the men was sentenced to three years in prison and the other to five years in prison.

In the past week, the group has publicly flogged more than eight people in Kapisa, Maidan Wardak and Kabul provinces on various charges.

This comes as human rights organisations have repeatedly called for an end to corporal punishment in Afghanistan. Earlier, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan called on the Taliban to abide by its human rights obligations.

However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an interview with the group-controlled National Radio that human rights in Afghanistan are respected and based on "Islamic and cultural values". With this comment, he once again showed the Taliban's disregard for international conventions.

The source said that the students were studying in 10 government institutes and more than 150 private institutes.

Some students who have not yet completed their studies have expressed horror and disappointment over the Taliban's decision to close these centres.

"This was my last hope to do something, to become someone. But everything has been taken away from us because we are girls," said Seja (pseudonym), one of the students who was previously a university student and had turned to the medical institute after the universities were closed.

The Taliban leader recently ordered educational institutions to stop admitting women. However, the lack of an official announcement and written documentation has caused widespread confusion.

Some educational institutions have said that they will continue to operate until they receive written instructions, while others have closed immediately or have quickly held final exams.

"Everyone is confused and no one is really telling us what's going on. We are taking two or three exams every day... even though we finished our exams a few months ago," added Seja, who is in her first year at a private institute.

"We have received many messages from students and teachers asking if there is any hope? No one is happy," said one of the directors of a private institution in Kabul, which has 1,100 students, 700 of whom are women.

According to sources from the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health, 35,000 women were studying in these institutions in fields such as nursing, midwifery, dentistry, and laboratory science.

The United Nations has condemned the Taliban's decision, describing it as "systemic and unacceptable discrimination against women”. Experts have called the decision "femicide" and warned that implementing the ban could lead to "unnecessary suffering, illness and possibly death of Afghan women and children”.

The UN said that the decision would also have devastating consequences in a country that suffers from the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world.

Some sources have reported that the Taliban leader's recent decision has divided the group's officials.

Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the group has imposed sweeping restrictions on women, making Afghanistan the only country that prohibits girls from studying beyond the sixth grade.

The Taliban's decision has met with widespread international backlash. Some countries have sent a case of systematic discrimination and gender apartheid in Afghanistan to the Hague court, saying that the Taliban should be investigated.

The International Criminal Court has also said that it will soon issue an arrest warrant for Taliban leaders.

UNAMA, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, called on the Taliban in a statement on Tuesday, December 10, to accept their human rights commitments as a way to protect and promote the well-being of the Afghan people.

The organisation emphasised that human rights are a path to achieving solutions and play a preventive, protective and transformative role for the benefit of all.

“Unfortunately, we are witnessing the opposite trend in Afghanistan,” said UNAMA head Roza Otunbayeva.

Otunbayeva added that despite the improvement in the security situation and the reduction in armed violence in Afghanistan, measures to support and protect human rights are still being steadily and "dangerously" eroded.

She added that Afghan women and girls suffer the most from this area.

The UNAMA chief emphasised that the Taliban's human rights record highlights the regime's discrimination against women and girls.

"With power comes responsibility. The Taliban's claim to legitimately represent the Afghan people at the United Nations must be accompanied by genuine efforts to uphold and advance our shared values and norms," she said.

Meanwhile, Fiona Frazier, the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Afghanistan, said that human rights documents were created as a tool to help communities around the world build a better future.

The UN official added that if Afghans, especially women and girls, continue to be denied their rights, it will be due to the Taliban's blatant and deliberate irresponsibility for the welfare of the Afghan people.

The Taliban’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Amir Khan Muttaqi had pledged full cooperation with Ali Reza Bekdeli.

During this meeting, the new Iranian ambassador expressed hope that he would be able to further expand relations between the two countries during his mission.

He also said, "To further develop bilateral relations, he intends to organise visits of high-level delegations between the two countries in the near future."

Ali Reza Bekdali has recently been appointed as the acting head of the Iranian embassy in Kabul. Iran has also removed the position of special representative for Afghanistan from its foreign ministry structure.

Previously, Hassan Kazemi Qomi served as the President's Special Representative and Acting Head of the Iranian Embassy in Kabul.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry announced on Monday, December 9, that during Ishaq Dar's meeting with the Taliban ambassador, the talks focused on strengthening ties between Pakistan and the Taliban government.

The visit came a few days after Mohammad Sadiq was appointed as Pakistan's special envoy for Afghanistan. Earlier, Pakistan had announced that it did not intend to appoint a special representative for Afghanistan affairs.

In recent months, tensions between Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban have escalated, with senior Pakistani officials repeatedly accusing the Taliban in Kabul of supporting and sheltering the Pakistani Taliban. The Taliban has denied the accusations.

This meeting and Pakistan's recent move to appoint a new representative for Afghanistan could be an attempt to ease these tensions between the Taliban and Islamabad.