Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. Here, a female Afghan law student reports on the growing number and severity of Taliban restrictions on women since August 2021. For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding our correspondent’s name. The text has only been lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.

It’s been just over 8 months since the Taliban took over Afghanistan. 245 days have passed. During this time the Taliban have committed all kinds of violence, torture and crimes against women and their rights, from closing girls’ schools to arresting women protesters and imposing severe restrictions.

In the early days of the Taliban’s new rule in Afghanistan, many women were fired from their jobs. For example, women in the Herat Department of Education were fired and forced to stay at home. As a result, many female-headed households lost their income And misfortune befell them.

After that, the Taliban have imposed other restrictions. For example, they prevented women from driving in the city and have instructed taxi drivers in Kabul not to take women without hijab and women without Maharram [male chaperones] for long distances. At Herat University, the pictures of all the female professors and the female students were removed from the walls of the faculties, and even the painting of Rabia Balkhi, the poet of Afghanistan, was not spared. When economic hardships reached their worst, the Taliban reduced teachers’ salaries (and those of all male and female Government employees), added to everyone’s misery.

When many women had run out of patience , a group of protesters with the slogan “bread, work, freedom” began to protest and demonstrate in Kabul against Taliban. This group continued its activities in the city for some time, including holding demonstrations, posting various videos, and writing their slogans on the walls of Kabul. This group was repeatedly confronted with pepper spray, tear gas and gun threats until one night a video was released of the arrest by force of Tamana Paryani, their team leader, and some other protesting women. Fear gripped everyone. The Taliban stormed the homes of protesting women in the middle of the night and arrested them. That night, all the protesting girls tried to hide themselves, but to no avail. The Taliban found and arrested anyone they targeted. These women were in Taliban prisons for a long time.

Another manifestation of Taliban violence against women is the use of electric shock guns to intimidate women in the passport office of one of Afghanistan’s largest provinces, There, large numbers of women and children were intimidated by the Taliban and faced various threats, the sound of electronic shock was everywhere and fear was visible in everyone’s eyes, Even old women who could not move were threatened by these shockers. A poor girl talking on her cell phone was assaulted by the Taliban because the Taliban thought she was filming their violence. These acts of violence are not covered by any of the domestic news networks, and no one knows what kind of violence against women is taking place in different parts of this country.

About six months after their takeover of Afghanistan, under pressure by the international community, the Taliban reopened public universities to students, with a plan of complete separation of male and female students. According to this plan, in the girls’ shift, no male student was allowed to enter the university, and in the boys’ shift, no girl was allowed to stay in the university. But this was not the only restriction imposed. None of the female professors were allowed to teach the boys, and in the case of the girls, only the older male professors were allowed to teach the girls in case of urgent need. The entrance door for girls is completely separate from the boys. Girls are not allowed to go to offices and departments to meet their male professors. Girls are not allowed to take pictures of themselves at university, The use of smartphones is not allowed, and if the Taliban see a person use it, they would certainly react. Fourth-year female students were instructed not to show even a single hair in the photos they take for their diploma, otherwise their diploma will not be issued from center (Kabul). In the university, female professors are not allowed to attend meetings with their male colleagues. Fourth-year students are not allowed to hold mixed graduation ceremonies. In some universities, girls are not allowed to wear colored clothes, they only have to wear black clothes. If a girl leaves the university just minutes after the end of their shift, she would have been confronted with the brutal behavior of the Taliban at the university door as to why she had been at the university so long. Wearing full hijab is an obligation for all female students and professors.

In recent shocking news, the Taliban have instructed airlines that women should not travel without a Maharram. And according to a written order, women who do not wear the hijab are not allowed to enter offices and ministries.

One month after the reopening of the universities, the Taliban announced the reopening of girls’ schools. All the girls were happy and ready to go to school, but the next day, the girls above the sixth grade were not allowed to go to school and the school doors were closed to them for the second time. That day, was the darkest day for Afghanistan after August 15, 2021. The girls cried in front of the closed doors of the school, and all over Afghanistan and beyond women cried with them. We fell once again. The Taliban once again showed their violent and misogynistic face in the worst possible way to the people of Afghanistan and the whole world. The blow that was inflicted on the academic body of Afghanistan every day from the closure of the school is irreparable.

These are but a few instances of the Taliban’s violence and repression against women.

Yes, today is the 245th day since the fall of Afghanistan and women are being subjected to more and more violence under the dark shadow of the Taliban.

Women have lost their right to work, right to liberty, right to freedom of expression, right to demonstrate, right to education, right to freedom of movement and, in most cases, their right to life. The Taliban seek the brutal elimination of women in all spheres and are increasing their restrictions day by day.

Stand with women in Afghanistan.

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