A Woman Rescued in Badghis After Five Years of House Imprisonment by Her Husband

Photo: 8ammedia

A woman in Qhor Mach district of Badghis province who had been imprisoned at home by her husband for five years has been rescued.

Mawlawi Sibghatullah Samim, head of publications at the Taliban’s Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Badghis, confirmed the incident on Sunday (22 June), saying that after the woman’s family filed a complaint with the department, its officers took action to free her.

According to Samim, the Taliban’s moral police, after reviewing the case, “advised” the woman’s husband and considered his actions contrary to Islamic values and principles of human rights. The Taliban said the man has also expressed regret for his actions.

This comes as the Taliban are trying to portray themselves as defenders of women’s rights by highlighting such cases, while in reality, since returning to power, they have imposed widespread restrictions, including bans on work, education, and schooling for women, effectively forcing millions of women into house arrest and social isolation.

The Taliban’s Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is a body that has repeatedly been cited in reports as responsible for the detention, threats, and violent treatment of women in public places due to their attire or presence in society. Many women’s rights activists consider this department a tool of systematic control and suppression of women.

The five-year imprisonment of this woman is just one of dozens of cases recorded under the vulnerable conditions of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, where women are not only victims of patriarchal traditions but also of a regime that derives legitimacy by erasing and silencing them.