By: Khaliq Ebrahimi
Translated by: Mohammad Rezaie
Narges Sadat was arrested after one and half year of struggles against Taliban on February 9, 2023. She stayed in the prison for 66 days in Kaul. Her eye witness from the breath-taking struggles of Afghan women against the Taliban and their inhumane behavior with imprisoned women is a new story of “Blood and Madness” in Afghanistan.
Taliban had not female police to arrest Narges Sadat, the Taliban fighters arrested her near “Finest Store, on Pul e Sorkh. They threugh her into the vehicle. Narges, objected and asked don’t you claim your government is a religious one? Where in the religion has said you should imprison men and women in the same place. This, caused the Taliban to place her on the front seat beside the driver. But the barrel of the Taliban gun was on her neck. “If you talk, you will be killed.” A Taliban fighter said.
There were about 30 anti-women sitting in a room in police district 3. Contrary to her expectations, they welcomed her with bad words and curses. One of them said that they had been searching her for a long time and finally caught her. Other one asked: Where are you from? When she said she was from Kandahar, a man who was from Kandahar and thought that Narges had disgraced him, poured the hot tea on her face! Her eyes and face burnt, the world looked dark, but her tongue was alive yet. She objected, but she fell down on the ground when they shocked her with an electric shocker.
She was at the police district 3 for a short period and they violently suppressed her there. There was no police woman or any other woman there. After six hours of detention, they handcuffed her, put a black sack on her face and charged her with plotting against the system and took her to one of the most horrible places; Directorate 40. It is where one can hear the sound of breaking the bones of women’s rights protestors from long distances.
Narges noticed in Directorate 40 that the employees and women guard of the prison were the sex slaves of Taliban commanders. They also were imprisoned, but the form of imprisonment was different, they neither escaped from there and nor could talk. She was tortured for 22 days and no one was allowed to meet her during this period. Keeping awake, electric shock, whipping and beating with cables, and even keeping open the water tab of her cell for 4 nights in order to keep her wake, are some of the torturing methods used against her. “Except raping, Taliban used all torture methods against me.” She said.
Sadat was in an individual cell for 35 days, then they chained her hands and feet and threw her in the room of ISIS prisoners. The two female ISIS prisoners were from Iran Kurdistan and Iraq. When they noticed Sadat was a Shiite Muslim, they beat her to death.
Narges was such tortured that her biggest wish was to die to get rid of the torture. “I think, I was deliberately held by those two ISIS girls so that I would be tortured more.” She said. “Don’t say ISIS, say the Islamic Caliphate.” When Taliban transferred Narges to the public prison after two days, and took her for investigation. She objected to the discriminatory practices of Taliban with prisoners, and asked why they treated ISIS prisoners respectfully, and have specific privileges. One of the Taliban investigators, scolded and said don’t say ISIS, say the Islamic Caliphate. ” They treated ISIS prisoners respectfully. They had food from outside and had sanitary equipment, while if we had a female problem, Taliban did not pay attention.” She said.
Out of the prison, Narges’ family was repeatedly threatened her detention must be kept secret and must not be shared with media. Narges’s family came to Kabul one week before the republic collapsed. One week ago, a rocket bullet hit their house and they had left Kandahar and had come to Kabul that it may be safer than Kandahar, but they were facing direct and serious threats by Taliban in Kabul. Contrary to the Taliban threats, Sadat’s imprisonment was shared with media and it helped Sadat a lot. After this, Taliban reduced their anger and violence against Sadat. Because Human rights organizations perused this issue. Narges believes that when her case was shared with media, it caused Taliban to less torture her and not rape her.
Narges Sadat was in prison for 66 days. During this period, every time she wanted to sleep, the screams of the women under the torture of Taliban did not let her rest. She was emotionally hurt. She was so damaged that even though some time has passed since this event, she is still dealing with medicine and treatment. As much as Narges was tortured, her family was threatened and psychologically tortured outside the prison. “When I was released from the prison, it was as if my mother had aged ten years.
Narges claims Taliban tortured her for being a Shiite Muslim. When she was arrested and Taliban took her to police district 3, the first question Taliban asked her was about her religion. “I hate Shiites. I am glad that you are suffering.” Arifa Safi, the former employee of the National Assembly, and now, one of the female Taliban torturers was openly torturing Narges due to her religion in Directorate 40. They told me, “If you become a Sunni, we will forgive you and set you free. When I performed prayers, they watched me on the cameras and then harassed me.” She said.
After Taliban takeover, Taliban in addition to furthering ethnic, religious and gender gaps, have added language gap too. Although Narges Sadat could speak in Pashtu, she was tortured for speaking in Persian for several times in order to speak in Pashtu. “Although I can speak Pashtu very well, I never failed and did not speak in Pashtu.” She Said. Maybe speaking in Pashtu and worshipping like Sunnis would have allowed her to be released from the prison sooner, but she was brave enough to stand up for her values.
Narges Sadat held literacy classes for women in Kandahar, where women had not enjoyed their basic rights under any government, and she advocated for female prisoners. In the school where she studied, Taliban sprinkled acid on the girls’ faces so that Kandahar girls would stay at home. Taliban exploded the educational center she studied at and killed her peers and Narges remained alone. When she settled down in Kabul to be the voice of Kandahar girls, she studied literature and worked. She always protested on Kabul streets. And finally, the blackness of Kandahar took over Kabul, and Narges gave an account of all her activities and left Afghanistan.
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