2025/'24: Feb wk1 -- Jan wk5 -- Jan wk4 -- Jan wk2 -- Dec wk4 P2 -- Dec wk4 -- Dec wk3

 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.

The Suicide Shop
Zan Times - February 4, 2025 - By: Freshta Ghani
<<‘The Suicide Shop’: A reality in Afghanistan
The Taliban declared that the book The Suicide Shop is against national interests and must be removed from libraries and bookstores. After hearing about its ban, I decided to read it. Written by the French author Jean Teulé, The Suicide Shop was published in 2007. The book sold well, and a film adaptation was made in 2013. This book tells the story of the depressed and gloomy Tuvache family who believe that the world is not a place for living and that their purpose in life is to help others access suicide methods easily. The family owns a shop where they sell all kinds of suicide-related products: poisons, weapons, and other lethal means. The Tuvaches have three children, each named after a famous figure who died by suicide. The elder son, Vincent, who constantly innovates and invents new suicide methods, is named after Vincent van Gogh, the renowned 19th-century Dutch painter. The daughter, Marilyn, who struggles with her weight, is named after Marilyn Monroe, the iconic American singer and actress. The younger son, Alan, who is cheerful and tries to spread happiness to others, is named after Alan Turing, the groundbreaking mathematician and computer scientist believed to have injected poison into an apple and eaten it in a moment of deep despair. In The Suicide Shop, sorrowful music always plays in the background, colours have been erased from the setting, and poisoned food is served to customers instead of sweet fruits. The parents even give their children suicide tools as birthday gifts and forbid them from falling in love. The atmosphere of this novel bears a striking resemblance to the current situation in Afghanistan. Under the Taliban’s rule, Afghanistan has been transformed into a countrywide suicide shop where most of our fellow citizens are deprived of life and constantly bombarded with sermons and propaganda about the means, tools, and best ways to prepare for the afterlife. The Taliban do not see life as separate from death; rather, they consider it merely a prelude and opportunity for dying. For them, governing Afghanistan means preparing its people for death. To the Taliban, death is preferable to life. In November 2024, while working on a report for Zan Times, “An epidemic of suicidal thoughts among school-age girls,” I listened to interviews with 23 girls, as well as four interviews with their families and friends. After each interview, I had to take a break to regain composure and ensure my emotions did not interfere with my editing. In these interviews, school-deprived girls described how they face relentless pressure, sometimes feeling so trapped that they contemplate giving up breathing altogether. Nearly all of them understood that their suicidal thoughts were directly caused by the Taliban’s inhumane policies. In reality, they were not committing suicide — they were being erased. One of the girls said that she had withdrawn from social life and gradually fallen into severe depression since her school was shut down. In the depths of her despair, she would see her room filled with men who looked like the Taliban and imagined that they intended to harm her. This young girl had desperately tried to rid her mind of these hallucinations but failed. By the time of our interview, she had attempted suicide three times. With their sick ideology, the Taliban have sought to confine women to their homes, barring them from education, work, and social activities. Unfortunately, in these three and a half years, they have made significant progress in their mission to erase women from public life. Now, movement and vitality have been drained from Afghan women’s lives. Thousands of young girls who once had ambitious dreams, who aspired to learn skills, practice art, play an active role in society, and gain personal independence, are now confined to their bedrooms and kitchens. Freedom and love have been forcibly stripped from their lives, and they are no longer even allowed to think about what they desire. A joint report published in September 2023 by UN Women, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated that between April and June of that year, anxiety, isolation, and depression among women had significantly worsened, affecting nearly 70 percent of them. According to the report, women suffer from severe psychological distress, including insomnia, depression, hopelessness, fear, isolation, and suicidal thoughts. Multiple media reports over the past few years have also shown that the Taliban have systematically eliminated women from public and professional spaces, fostering conditions of isolation, psychological crises, and slow death. This darkness will not last forever. The Taliban themselves fear that individuals inside Afghanistan like Alan from The Suicide Shop might rise and dismantle their suicide-selling business. The Taliban are terrified of joy, freedom, individual independence, and the power of the people. That is why they have shut down schools and universities and banned the sale of non-Taliban-approved books. They want to keep our people subdued. The collapse of the Taliban’s Suicide Shop is inevitable. Just like Alan, the character in the novel, there will be those among our people who will risk everything to reclaim freedom, and they will bring down the Taliban’s emirate of death.
Freshta Ghani is the managing editor of Zan Times.>>
Source:https://zantimes.com/2025/02/04/the-suicide-shop-a-reality-in-afghanistan/


The life of a child given away
Zan Times - February 3, 2025 - By: Shamsia
<<Narrative- The life of a child given away as compensation
My heart pounds every day when I leave my home and make my way to Pul-e-Surkh near Kabul University. I worry that the Taliban might stop beside me and drag me into their vehicle once again. I am exhausted from being imprisoned by the Taliban and having to explain why I work as a street vendor. The first time they arrested me, I managed to free myself by crying and pleading. Now, I hide behind walls and in the alleys of Pul-e-Surkh, waiting for their vehicles to pass. I cover my face with a black veil before stepping onto the street to sell pens. I know my appearance makes people suspicious. Some think I am a beggar. Selling pens is the only job I can do right now. I wish I had a better job but I have to bring food home and buy medicine for my mother-in-law’s wounds. Every day at six in the morning, I walk from Company (a neighborhood in Kabul) to Pul-e-Surkh. I can’t afford bus fare and sell pens along the way. At six in the evening, I walk back home. When I say “home,” you might imagine a house with a roof, windows, and doors. We live in a tent. In the winter, we don’t have enough fuel to keep warm. My husband and I use our meager income to cover basic needs. We barely manage to buy oil, rice, and flour to keep from starving. My mother-in-law takes my earnings and sometimes gives me a little money to buy a scarf or clothes. She is sick, but we can’t afford a doctor, and no one will treat her for free. I was 12 when I was given in marriage. Now, I am 14. At first, I had no understanding of what marriage meant. I never imagined I would be separated from my family while so young but my family had no choice. My uncle had an affair with my husband’s sister, and the two ran away together. In exchange for their daughter who had eloped with my uncle, my husband’s family demanded me. My family gave me away as compensation. My uncle and my sister-in-law live in an unknown place, but I am here, paying the price for their actions. At home, I have no authority — I do whatever others tell me to do. My husband is also a victim of his sister’s decision. We were both children, and now we are unwillingly married to each other. My husband was also a pen seller. Sometimes, we went together to the market; other times, he worked in Sar-e-Kotal. Occasionally, instead of selling pens, he sold water. I buy pens for five afghani each and sell them for 10. My daily earnings are unpredictable. Sometimes, I sell a full pack of 12 pens; other times, I sell much less. On days when I sell a few extra pens, I return home happier. After the Taliban arrested me for working on the streets, I was terrified and didn’t want to work anymore. I stayed home for a few days, but my mother-in-law told me I had to work, or we would go hungry. I had to return to the streets. Now, I am extremely careful though the fear of being arrested and imprisoned by the Taliban is always with me. I don’t know whether I should worry about putting food on the table or about how to escape from the Taliban’s prison. When Taliban forces arrested me near Kabul University, they took me to an unknown location. My husband and several other child labourers were also detained. We remained in Taliban custody for two days. They gave us very little food, and we were constantly hungry. Some of the children were beaten.“Do not work. Stay at home. We will help you,” the Taliban told us. But they did not help us at all. Instead, they made us pledge that we would never work again and threatened that they would torture and imprison us if we were caught on the streets a second time. During their interrogation, I begged and cried, explaining my desperation about how I had a sick person at home with no one to feed or care for them. After two days, they released me but kept my husband in prison.
I dream of becoming a mother one day. I haven’t yet thought about how many daughters or sons I would like to have, but my mother-in-law wants me to become a mother soon. I always miss my own mother. I am not allowed to visit my parents’ home, which is far away, but sometimes she secretly comes to see me. Whenever I see children walking to school, I wish I were one of them. More than anything, I want to become a doctor. I have never been to school, but I know that education is something very good. I wish no other girl has to suffer the same fate as mine. I hope no one else is given away as compensation like I was.
This is the story of a child who was given away as compensation and now sells pens on the streets of Kabul to survive. It has been written by a journalist under the pseudonym of Shamsia.>>
Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/02/03/the-life-of-a-child-street-vendor-given-away-as-compensation/

Zan Times - January 30, 2024 - By: Younus Negah
<<The decline of the emirate
In an audio recording released on January 27, Mullah Hibatullah stated that he would not surrender to the pressures of the East and West. Over the past few years, the Taliban leader has made enemies across Afghanistan — even within the Taliban itself. Signs of his fear of growing opposition are becoming evident, as is the decline of his emirate. This year is likely to be a difficult one. The Taliban have attempted to sustain their rule through a combination of internal repression and flexibility toward foreign powers. They have repeatedly declared that they have no permanent enmity with any country and are willing to engage in trade and cooperation with all Eastern and Western countries — provided that these states do not interfere with how the emirate rules the people of Afghanistan. Perhaps recalling the history of Afghanistan in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Mullah Hibatullah and his advisors believe that appeasement toward foreign powers — even at the cost of international isolation — will help prolong the rule of their despotic emirate. Two prominent Afghan emirs of the 19th century, Dost Mohammad Khan and Abdur Rahman Khan, ruled for long periods using this strategy. This tradition remained valid until 1919 when Amanullah Khan, with the support of the constitutional movement, declared Afghanistan’s independence. However, foreign interventions and authoritarian regimes have continued to plague our country. Afghanistan has never established a government that both respects the political and civil rights of its citizens and represents the Afghan people independently on the global stage.
At the same time, neither the domestic environment nor international conditions allow for the emergence of a new Dost Mohammad Khan or Abdur Rahman Khan — someone who signs an agreement with a superpower, turns away from the international stage and can rule comfortably for years by issuing decrees at will, eliminating rivals, crushing opposition through torture and executions, and eventually dying of old age in the comfort of his own bed. The Taliban hope that Donald Trump’s return to the White House will create an opportunity for a deal to secure the survival of the Taliban. It may not lead to the formal recognition of their oppressive, anti-freedom, anti-women, and anti-education emirate but would shield them from outside pressure over their inhumane policies inside Afghanistan. Analysts believe the Taliban leader wants to guarantee the future of his emirate through direct negotiations with the Trump administration in exchange for intelligence cooperation.
The mullah faces numerous enemies — within the Taliban itself, among the Afghan people, in regional countries, and from international organizations.
Having lost many of their rights and freedoms, the Afghan people oppose the Taliban emirate.
Hibatullah’s internal rivals within the Taliban challenge his rule through obstruction, disobedience, or lack of cooperation. Non-Taliban politicians seek to overthrow his emirate through political struggle. Competing regional powers, avoiding excessive closeness to Hibatullah, maintain ties with influential figures outside his inner circle, investing in Afghanistan’s post-Taliban future or a post-Hibatullah scenario. Human rights organizations and activists resist the Taliban’s rule and, advocating for the rights of women, girls, and other oppressed groups suffering under Taliban discrimination. Intellectuals, political and civil activists, and international media and NGOswork to expose Taliban atrocities, especially those committed by Hibatullah’s faction. Through reports, conferences, and lobbying efforts, they strive to increase awareness and pressure against the Taliban’s extremist rule. A prime example of these efforts is the recent request by the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor for an arrest warrant against Mullah Hibatullah. His recent speech — of which only a few moments have been released to the media — appears to be directly linked to this legal request by the ICC’s prosecution office.
The significance of the ICC arrest warrant request
Three days after Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Karim Ahmad Khan, the British-Pakistani lawyer who has roots in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, appeared in a video message announcing that his office — the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC — had submitted two arrest warrant requests for Mullah Hibatullah and Abdul Hakim Haqqani to the relevant ICC chamber. In his brief statement, Karim Ahmad Khan explained that his office had gathered sufficient evidence through more than two years of investigations since late 2022 for them to ask for the arrests of the two men. This evidence, compiled through document collection, victim interviews, analysis of Taliban decrees and policies, and work done by experts and international organizations, indicate that the leader of the Taliban the group’s chief justice, were responsible for crimes against humanity, including the persecution and torture of the Afghan people on the basis of gender. The prosecutor’s official statement outlines howMullah Hibatullah and Abdul Hakim Haqqani have systematically persecuted women, girls, and individuals who do not conform to the Taliban’s worldview. Since seizing power on August 15, 2021, they have carried out abuses including the ongoing oppression and severe deprivation of fundamental rights such as bodily autonomy, freedom of movement and expression, access to education, private and family life, and the right to assembly. The ICC prosecutor’s office states that any resistance or opposition to Taliban rulings has been met with execution, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and other inhumane acts. They also promise to issue further arrest warrants for other senior Taliban members in the near future.
Along with the arrest warrant requests, two additional detailed documents — each 51-pages long — were submitted. They outline the backgrounds and case details of Mullah Hibatullah and Abdul Hakim Haqqani. While portions of these documents were redacted to protect witnesses and sources, they provide a comprehensive picture of the Taliban’s crimes over the past three and a half years and the direct role the two men play in orchestrating these atrocities. These documents are supported by extensive audio, video, and written evidence and form a crucial record of Taliban crimes. Even if these arrest warrants do not lead to the immediate arrest and prosecution of Taliban leaders, this move by the ICC represents a significant step in the fight against the Taliban and their inhumane policies. Established under the initiative of the United Nations and with the approval of the majority of its member states, the ICC holds international legitimacy; its statements, reports, directives, and rulings lead to serious consequences. These actions will further restrict the Taliban’s ability to gain international recognition, limit the diplomatic mobility of its officials, and further damage its political standing in global public opinion. Unlike the relatively easy process of removing Taliban leaders from the UN blacklist, closing these ICC cases will not be simple. If the court proceeds to issue official arrest warrants, the cases will remain open until the Taliban leaders either face trial or die. Consequently, pragmatic Taliban officials — those seeking to solidify their political roles in a post-Taliban Afghanistan or after Mullah Hibatullah — may take steps to avoid being implicated, which could lead to even further internal divisions and heightened tensions within the Taliban ranks. Additionally, this expert-led investigation by a credible international institution will serve as an essential historical record of this dark period in Afghanistan’s history. In the future, while reports, articles, and even victim testimonies may be questioned, the documented evidence stored in the archives of the ICC will be far harder to deny or erase.
Younus Negah is a researcher and writer from Afghanistan who is currently in exile in Turkey.>>
Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/01/30/the-decline-of-the-emirate/


Caught between Taliban decrees and Trump
Zan Times - January 29, 2025 - By: Khadija Haidari
<<Caught between Taliban decrees and Trump executive orders
This narrative was told to a Zan Times journalist.
On January 15, a Pakistani police officer came to our door and, in a mocking voice, said, “Go to Afghanistan, the Taliban will take you to America.” We are an eight-member family. The officer insisted we move to the Haji Camp, a holding facility for refugees. I told them we have no male guardian and pleaded to stay temporarily, promising we would soon leave for America. On December 24, 2024, the IOM requested our documents, stating we should wait for a final email confirming our flight schedule. However, the officers ignored emails from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and gave us one day to leave Islamabad. On that day, we hurriedly packed our belongings and headed to Peshawar where we knew life for a family made up entirely of women would be extremely difficult. We consoled ourselves that these were the final days of our ordeal, and soon we would have some respite. On January 21, we learned from media reports that the new president of the United States, Donald Trump, had suspended the processing of immigration cases for three months.
We are stuck, unable to start new lives, fearful of being forced back to live under the Taliban.
My name is Zakia Ghafoori and I am 24 years old and have a university degree in economics. Before the collapse of Afghanistan, our life was stable. My six sisters and I all worked. Our father, who served in the military, had a good salary. In 2021, the Taliban killed our father a month before they took over Afghanistan. Life for a fatherless family of seven daughters became a nightmare. We were still grieving his loss when the Taliban began imposing restrictions on women’s lives and activities. My mother often said, “Under the Taliban, families with daughters will never find peace, especially if their father was in the military.” This fear forced us to leave our homeland. With the help of one of my father’s friends, we obtained Pakistani visas and moved there in September 2021. While our mother is head of our family, as the eldest daughter, I am responsible for managing the family’s finances. We had little money, and started selling my mother’s gold to make ends meet. Life in Pakistan is incredibly hard – jobs are scarce, and when they are available, the pay is meager. Initially, one of my sisters found a job at a food stand. Later, two more of us found work. Though our income was small, it covered our basic needs. Still, we managed to survive as our immigration case was processed through the UNHCR.
In October 2024, as our visas were nearing expiration, the IOM sent us an email instructing us not to renew them or allow our passports to receive exit stamps from Pakistan as our immigration case was complete and our flight was being arranged. This news filled us with joy. We didn’t renew our visas and stopped working. In December, IOM contacted us to submit the final documents for arranging our flight. We prepared the documents, stopped going to work, and packed our bags, thinking our time in Pakistan was almost over. Now, we are in Peshawar, struggling with economic, mental, and emotional hardships. We are left wondering what will happen to our lives. Amid these unending challenges, we have come to realize that we must take matters into our own hands instead of relying on the uncertain support of governments whose policies shift daily for political reasons.
Trump’s recent decision has thrown thousands of people — those who have spent years waiting for immigration to the U.S., who left their countries, homes, and lives behind — into confusion and despair. Among them are many people like us who are facing life-threatening dangers in Afghanistan, unable to work or live freely under the Taliban’s discriminatory policies. Families like ours, with no male members to provide protection or support, are among the hardest hit by this U.S. policy change. We have now decided to take our first step to regain some control over our lives by applying for Pakistani visas to avoid deportation due to our illegal stay. However, the cost of a visa in Pakistan is US$400 per person. For our family of seven, we need $2,800, plus an additional 50,000 Pakistani rupees for application fees. With no income, this amount is beyond our imagination. We know that this is just a glimpse of the immense challenges that Afghan refugees face in neighboring countries. Ours is merely one of the thousands of displaced and stateless families. The fall of the republic and the return of the Taliban have turned our society upside down. Our stories of hunger, persecution, displacement, and statelessness will continue until we have a responsible administration and a government that truly supports its people. I often ask myself: What if we had succeeded in reaching the U.S. before Trump’s administration began? Naturally, our family would have had the chance to work, live a normal life, and escape the fear of the Taliban and the constant threat of deportation by Pakistani authorities. My sisters, deprived of education and work, could have started lives free from these fears. But the line of Afghan refugees and displaced people is so long that even if the refugee system to the United States reopens, there would be countless girls, women, children, and even men in Peshawar, Islamabad, Tehran, and across Afghanistan who would remain vulnerable, stateless, and discriminated against. While efforts must continue to relocate refugees to safer countries, we must not forget that the ultimate solution lies in rebuilding our homeland. Migration cannot be a collective solution. Like my family, Afghanistan itself is on the brink of leaving for a better destination, only to have the changing policies of world leaders slam shut the door we believed was our path to salvation. My family and I now mark the beginning of our fourth year in Pakistan, waiting for a flight to the U.S. My mother is ill. My youngest sister, who is just 15 years old, is also unwell and, like the rest of my sisters, is barred from education in Pakistan. She was in the eighth grade when Kabul fell to the Taliban. Now, public schools refuse to accept Afghan refugees and the fees of private schools are exorbitant.
Most Afghans living in Pakistan constantly worry about their futures and their children’s lives. We are caught between Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada’s decrees and President Trump’s executive orders. Our homeland was handed over to a misogynistic, anti-education, anti-freedom group through an agreement signed in Doha, and now the doors of the world are closed to most of us.
Khadija Haidari is a Zan Times journalist.>>
Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/01/29/caught-between-taliban-decrees-and-trump-executive-orders/


Taliban shut down women’s radio station
Jinha - Womens News Agency - February 5, 2025
<<Taliban shut down women’s radio station, arrest employees
The misogynistic and fundamentalist Taliban have shut down Afghanistan's only women’s radio station, arrested its employees.
News Center- The Taliban authorities raided and shut down Afghanistan’s only women's radio station Radio Begum on Tuesday, arresting two employees. “Officers from the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) assisted by representatives of the Ministry of Information and Culture raided Radio Begum in Kabul today,” the radio station said in a statement on Tuesday. “They seized computers, hard drives, files and phones from Begum staff, including Begum female journalists, and took into custody two male employees of the organization who do not hold any senior management position.” The radio station demanding the release of its employees also said that it would not provide further comment, fearing for the security of the detained employees. In a statement, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) strongly condemned the closure of the radio station by the Ministry of Information and Culture, emphasizing that the closure of Radio Begum is a violation against the media and the continuation of the Taliban's repressive policies. 18 media outlets were shut down by the Taliban in 2024, according to the Afghanistan Journalists Center. The Afghan Journalists Support Organization (AJSO) also issued a statement, condemning the closure of the radio station. “This is an attempt to silence different voices in the country,” said the statement, calling on the Taliban authorities to respect the principles of freedom of expression. Radio Begum was founded on March 8, International Women's Day, 2021, aiming to provide education to Afghan girls and support to Afghan women.>>
Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/taliban-shut-down-women-s-radio-station-arrest-employees-36481?page=1


Iran must be ready for a bitter fall! - Pakhshan Azizi
Jinha - Womens News Agency - February 5, 2025 - by BAHARIN LEHIB
<<Afghan woman: Iran must be ready for a bitter fall!
“History proves that no dictator can last forever. Iran must be ready for a bitter fall,” said Vasima Soroush from Afghanistan, condemning the Iranian Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the death sentence against Pakhshan Azizi.
Afghanistan- Afghan and Iranian people have been oppressed by the government for years. The Iranian regime has used arrest, torture, execution, death penalty and enforced disappearance to suppress and silence the opposition. Despite all the oppressive methods, the revolutionary women of Iran and Rojhelat Kurdistan never give in resisting. Like the freedom fighters of Afghanistan, they struggle to build a “better future”, raising the flag of resistance against oppression. In recent months, the Iranian regime has issued a flurry of new death sentences, arresting many human rights defenders. Kurdish journalist Pakhshan Azizi is one of the women, who have been sentenced to death in Iran. She was sentenced to death by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of “armed rebellion against the state” on July 23, 2024. On January 8, 2025, the Iranian Supreme Court upheld the death sentence handed down to Pakhshan Azizi. This decision sparked anger and protests all over the world; human rights defenders have been demanding the Iranian authorities to revoke the death sentence against her and all political prisoners in the country.
‘The death sentence handed down to Pakhshan reminds me of the days I spent in prison’
In an interview with NuJINHA, Vasima Soroush, an activist in Afghanistan’s Takhar Province, condemned the Iranian Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the death sentence against Pakhshan Azizi. “The death sentence handed down to Pakhshan reminds me of the days I spent in a Taliban’s prison. The suffering of women at the hands of dictators will never be forgotten.”
‘They do not know that women will rise from the ashes’
Those who are enemies of freedom all over the world are afraid of women, Vasima Soroush stressed, adding: “The enemies of freedom are afraid of women everywhere, including Kabul and Tehran. They try to silence women because they are afraid of women's awareness, courage and resistance. The Taliban and the enemies of freedom in Iran use all kinds of methods to oppress women. However, they do not know that women will rise from the ashes.”
‘No dictator can last forever’
Vasima Soroush said that the fascist governments in Iran and Afghanistan would be held accountable one day. “The day is close. The women humiliated, tortured and executed by you will one day topple your regimes. History proves that no dictator can last forever. Therefore, you must be ready for a bitter fall.”>>
Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/afghan-woman-iran-must-be-ready-for-a-bitter-fall-36479

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