Manizha Seddiqi, a women human rights defender and member of the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women, was forcibly disappeared on October 9, 2023. She was later found in Taliban custody and transferred to Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul on December 5, 2023.

Three other prominent women human rights defenders also arrested around the same time – Parisa Azada, Neda Parwani, and Zholia Parsi – were subsequently released. However, Manizha Seddiqi continued to be held and in late February 2024 she was sentenced to two years in prison by a Taliban court. 

Manizha Seddiqi has been denied access to her family and legal counsel. She is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment, and her health is deteriorating without access to medical care.

Manizha Seddiqi has been targeted simply for exercising her rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Amnesty International is calling for her immediate and unconditional release. 

THE ONGOING STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN

Since returning to de-facto power in August 2021, the Taliban have waged a war on women and girls, seeking to erase them from public life. Women protesting against the Taliban’s harsh policies face forced disappearance, arbitrary arrest, and detention, torture and other mistreatment.

Despite the risks, women have led peaceful protests against the Taliban in several Afghan cities, including Kabul, Faizabad, Herat, and Mazar-i-Sharif.  Women protesters are subjected to verbal abuse, harassment, intimidation, and threats by armed Taliban agents, who greatly outnumber the protesters and routinely destroy or confiscate banners, leaflets, and other information materials. Journalists reporting on these protests have been subject to arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment.

Taliban de facto authorities have also followed women post-protests to arrest them. Several women have been arrested at gunpoint in their homes or in safe houses, often violently. Some have been detained incommunicado and repeatedly subjected to torture or other forms of ill-treatment. Male relatives have been severely beaten by Taliban actors at the time of the arrests.