Wahida Amiri

Wahida Amiri is an Afghan lawyer and women rights activist. She founded and led the group, Spontaneous Movement of Fighting Women of Afghanistan in protest against Taliban’s order stripping women of their rights to education, work and public life after their return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.[1] She was arrested and held in detention for days on the charges of being a spy for foreign powers and leading an uprising against the Taliban. Prior to the return of Taliban to Afghanistan, Amiri ran a private library for women in Kabul. She was named in the BBC 100 women in 2022.[2][3]

Background and Activism

Wahida Amiri had just enrolled in an elementary school when the Taliban first came to power in 1996 and ordered all schools for girls and women be closed and working women returned home. Her family moved to Pakistan as refugees where Amiri was only engaged in domestic shores. Amiri watched the September 11, 2001 bombing of World Trade Center in the United States as a little refugee girl in Pakistan but did not understand how the incident would impact her life until American troops ousted the Taliban from power.[1]

Following the ousting of the Taliban and return of democratic rule in Afghanistan, Amiri and her family returned to Kabul when she was 15 years old. In Kabul she continued her domestic shores until five years later when her cousin enrolled her in a school and went on to earn a degree in law. Upon graduation, she set up a private library in Kabul where she encouraged women and girls to study.[1]

In August 2021, Afghanistan fell back to the Taliban and women and girls were barred from attending school and working in public places. But Amiri continued to operate her library and encouraged women to study secretly there as an alternative to open school. The Taliban destroyed the library when it discovered it. Amiri then went into the street calling other women to join her in protest demanding equal rights for women.[4] After being joined by other women, she named her group Spontaneous Movement of Fighting Women of Afghanistan and led it in protest against the Taliban.[5] When a Taliban commander asked why she was protesting, she stated, "You can't treat me like a second-class citizen. I'm a woman and I'm your equal."[1][6]

When the Taliban started clamping down on women protesters, Amiri’s group went into a safe house, and remained there until Taliban discovered it, arrested and took them to the Ministry of Interior where they were questioned about the motivation for the protest and who was funding it. They were held in detention for 19 days and during which they were forced to confess that they were being sponsored by external forces to protest against the Taliban. The footage of the forced confession was aired on national television. When they were being released, they were told to "Go home and cook" that they belong in the kitchen.[1][5]

References
  1. "The librarian who defied the Taliban". BBC News. 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  2. Jaafari, Shirin (13 January 2023). "'We have no future': Afghan women protest Taliban restrictions". Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  3. "Women, Protest and Power- Confronting the Taliban - Afghanistan | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  4. "Afghan women activists feel betrayed by Oslo talks". AFP. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  5. Lutfi, Sarah Al-Arshani, Edris. "Afghanistan's non-violent resistance against the Taliban is led by women who risk torture and detention: 'Fear is everywhere'". Insider. Retrieved 2023-08-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. "Taliban Prevent Women Holding Press Conference". Pixstory. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
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