- Title: FRANCE: AFGHAN WOMEN DESCRIBE LIFE UNDER TALIBAN.
- Date: 4th May 2001
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 5, 2001) (FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: EXTERIOR OF HOTEL DE LASSAY, RESIDENCE OF THE FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 0.03 2. MCU/PAN: VEILED AFGHAN WOMEN HOMA, LATIFA AND DIBA ARRIVING AT ASSEMBLY 0.19 3. MV: RAYMOND FORNI, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, SHAKING AFGHAN WOMEN'S HANDS 0.28 4. MV/MCU/
- Embargoed: 19th May 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA8EYGUPWA0PBACAZ5ODOWO09VZ
- Story Text: Nameless and faceless, three Afghan women who managed
to slip out of their country have told French lawmakers of
their suffering since the radical Muslim Taliban rulers took
power five years ago.
Three Afghan women who managed to slip out of their
country spoke to members of the French National Assembly on
Friday (4 May) about the appalling situation of women under
the rule of the extreme Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan.
Veiled in long blue chadors that completely hid their
faces, with a small square of netting allowing them a blurred
outlook on life, they spoke of their nightmarish existence of
beatings, isolation and an identity that has been buried
alive.
Homa, who was forced to abandon her profession as a
gynaecologist in 1996 when the fundamentalist Taliban militia
imposed their vision of a pure Islamic state, said Afghan women
have lost hundreds of years worth of rights since the Taliban
arrived.
Homa and her friends Latifa and Diba, who adopted pseudonyms
and wore veils to protect their families, plan to return to
Afghanistan soon to bring a message of hope to other women,
although they refused to reveal when.
"We took a risk coming here, but we don't care, because what we
go through everyday is like death, so real death doesn't scare
us. How else could we continue our struggle for the women of
Afghanistan?" Latifa, a former journalism student, told a news
conference at the National Assembly.
"Today, I can tell you that my friend here and I are 50
per cent sure that we are risking our lives, but the fight
cannot go on if we don't do it. You must know that the fight
of Afghan women knows no fear," she added.
Latifa recounted a scene she witnessed on the streets of
Kabul during a Muslim festival, when Taliban militia men
suddenly began beating a woman with a lead-studded whip,
causing her feet to bleed.
"Even though she was standing in a pool of blood, she asked
why they were doing it. And they said it was because she was
wearing white shoes, the colour of the Taleban flag, and they
would beat her until the shoes turned red. And she said 'Yes,
I am a criminal'," Latifa recounted. "I have not gone out on
the street since that day," she said.
Latifa indicated that international efforts were being
made to send humanitarian aide to Afghanistan, ravaged by
drought and war, but that these efforts did not alleviate the
situation of women, who have been banned from working,
studying and receiving medical care.
The three women said they had been enjoying strolling
without their veils through the streets of Paris, but worried
that it was tempting fate. Latifa said she had to keep her
veil on to remind herself of the suffering of women in
Afghanistan. She said: "I have to keep it (the veil) on so
that I don't forget the suffering of my people. It's easy to
get used to not wearing this net, but I'll have to go back
there to face the same things again until you find a solution
to our plight," Latifa said.
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