Buried Alive: Afghan Women Under the Taliban
by Jan Goodwin
February 27, 1998 Thirty thousand men and boys poured into the
dilapidated Olympic sports stadium in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.
Street hawkers peddled nuts, biscuits and tea to the waiting crowd. The
scheduled entertainment? They were there to see a young woman,
Sohaila, receive 100 lashes, and to watch two thieves have their right
hands amputated. Sohaila had been arrested walking with a man who was
not a relative, a sufficient crime for her to be found guilty of adultery.
Since she was single, it was punishable by flogging; had she been married,
she would have been publicly stoned to death.
As Sohaila, completely covered in the shroud like burqa veil, was forced
to kneel and then flogged, Taliban "cheerleaders" had the stadium ringing
with the chants of onlookers. Among those present there were just three
women: the young Afghan, and two female relatives who had
accompanied her. The crowd fell silent only when the luckless thieves
were driven into the arena and pushed to the ground. Physicians using
surgical scalpels promptly carried out the amputations. Holding the
severed hands aloft by the index fingers, a grinning Taliban fighter warned
the huge crowd, "These are the chopped off hands of thieves, the
punishment for any of you caught stealing." Then, to restore the party
atmosphere, the thieves were driven in a jeep once around the stadium, a
flourish that brought the crowd to their feet, as was intended.
These Friday circuses, at which Rome's Caligula would doubtless have
felt at home, are to become weekly fixtures for the entertainmentÄstarved
male residents of Kabul. Now that "weak officials" have been purged
from key ministries, says the city's governor, Manan Niazi, who like many
of the regime's officials is also a mullah, the way has been cleared for such
displays. "We have a lot of such unpunished cases, but the previous civil
servants didn't have the courage to do what we are doing. These people
have now been replaced, and these events will continue." In fact, the next
scheduled program, as announced, would be one stoning to death and
three amputations...
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