Women’s rights and human rights activists have called on Amnesty International, UNAMA, the UN Human Rights Council, and other global bodies to urgently intervene in the case of Qadriya, a domestic violence survivor from Baghlan province.
They say the Taliban have placed her life in danger by handing her over to her father—who had previously called for her to be stoned to death.
Qadriya, 28, had warned in a video recorded from Kiligai Prison in Baghlan that the Taliban planned to release her into her father’s custody. She expressed fear for her life and said she might be killed once returned to her family home.
On Saturday, 5 April, the Taliban freed her and handed her over to her father. Her current whereabouts remain unknown. A group of activists has described the handover as a “criminal act.”
Campaigners from within Afghanistan, particularly from the Purple Saturdays Movement, have appealed to international human rights organisations, foreign governments, and justice advocates to raise their voices and protest on Qadriya’s behalf.
The statement stressed that Qadriya is not a criminal, but a woman who has endured prolonged abuse and violence.
In her video message, Qadriya revealed that her father filed a complaint against her in a Taliban court two years ago, demanding she be sentenced to death by stoning. At the time, she had fled to her sister’s home in Kabul to escape domestic violence in her father’s household.
