Hijab as an Excuse

On Saturday morning I received a message that had been sent overnight from B ending with 😭😭.

Seeing the emojis before translating her message was a forewarning of distressing news.

B's translated text told that "girls and boys were beaten today in the mosque of Takhar province for the crime of not wearing a hijab."

I replied: It's like madness! I know that it's not the culture of Afghans as a people. What is it about these Taliban people that makes them do such cruel things?

B's explanation – "The Taliban want to prevent women from education in various ways, however, they have used the hijab as an excuse and they don't want neither girls nor boys to be educated because they know that educated people will never accept the Taliban."

I searched for more information about the incident online, but I found only two reports, one from the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, the other on Hasht-E Subh Daily. Both reports were similar, that seven girls and nine boys had been whipped by Taliban in Taloqan Jama Mosque.

Taliban fighters have beaten, humiliated and whipped 16 people, including boys and girls, for visiting the market while not observing the hijab required by this group in the northern Takhar province of Afghanistan.

The young people were arbitrarily tried by the ‘unbridled’ Taliban members on Friday (November 11th) in the Jama Mosque of Taloqan, the capital city of Takhar province. Sources confirmed that out of 16 people, 7 of the victims were girls. Apparently, they were whipped for the alleged crime of not observing the hijab required by the Taliban. The Taliban publicly whipped each of them with 30 lashes among the worshipers.

During the trial, the Taliban did not allow anyone to film the scenes of this arbitrary trial, sources detailed. The Taliban have not officially said anything about this news. This is despite the fact that three months ago, Taliban fighters had publicly whipped two women and two men in the Darqad district of the same province.

– Hasht-E Subh Daily

Image: Hasht-e Subh Daily, 11 November 2022, https://8am.media/eng/7-girls-among-16-teens-whipped-by-taliban-in-afghanistans-taloqan-jama-mosque/