Women Deported from Iran Hospitalized in Mental Health Facilities

Photo: The New York Times

“This is not life, it is a prison without locks and doors.”

Dozens of Afghan women and girls who were recently deported from Iran have been admitted to mental health hospitals after returning to Afghanistan, due to facing the Taliban regime and laws that have pushed women’s lives to the brink of destruction.

While these women lived in Iran with hope for a better future, they now breathe in a land where simply “being a woman” is an unwritten crime. Education, study, work, recreation, going to restaurants, or even the right to walk freely in the city are all forbidden for them.

Shafiqa, one of the girls who returned to Nimroz after being deported, says with a broken voice:

“When I was dragged here from Iran, I did not think I would go straight from the border to a mental hospital, but at night I sleep with sleeping pills and during the day I breathe and stay awake with antidepressants. This is not life, it is a prison without locks and doors.”

This is not only Shafiqa’s voice. Nahid, another young girl who was deported from Tehran, tells Zan News about the bitter memory of her return:

“When I saw the Taliban, my whole body started shaking. I froze from fear. I felt my soul died at that moment. I no longer have a future, nor control over myself…”

Health sources in western Afghanistan confirmed to Zan News that the number of women suffering from severe depression, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, and nervous breakdowns has increased to an unprecedented level.

A psychiatrist who did not want to be named told Zan News:

“Every day we see young girls who, out of despair and psychological pressure, even think about suicide. They have no outlook, no hope, and no social support.”

Meanwhile, human rights organizations have warned that a silent annihilation of the generation of Afghan women is underway.

In the heavy silence of the international community, and while the world’s attention is focused on other crises, the Taliban are systematically eliminating women from society.

Now, women are not only deprived of normal life, but their mental health is also in serious danger.