Afghan woman stoned to death + then-and-now pictures

[aurora]

Supposedly for "adultery," but sounds more like fleeing her rapist (forced marriage) than adultery to me.


www.cnn.com/2015/11/04/asia/afghanistan-taliban-woman-stoning/index.html

Woman stoned to death in Afghanistan over accusation of adultery

By Jethro Mullen and Masoud Popalzai, CNN

Updated 6:34 AM ET, Wed November 4, 2015

(CNN)The men surround the woman as she stands in a hole dug into the stony ground, only her head pokes above the surface. Then they begin to pick up rocks and hurl them at her again and again from close range.

Her agonized cries grow louder as the barrage of stones intensifies.

The barbaric killing took place in a Taliban-controlled village in central Afghanistan last week, according to the provincial governor. Video of it, apparently filmed on a cell phone, has circulated on social media.

The 19-year-old woman, identified as Rokhshana, had been forced to marry against her will and recently fled with another man, said Seema Joyenda, the governor of Ghor province. The couple were caught after two days, and the Taliban leader of the village ordered that Rokhshana be stoned to death for adultery, Joyenda said.

The killing underlines the widespread problem of violence against women in Afghanistan. Earlier this year, the brutal killing of a 27-year-old woman by a mob in Kabul, the capital, stirred outrage both inside the country and around the globe.

Provincial government powerless to respond

Joyenda, one of two female governors in Afghanistan, said she cried as she watched the video of Rokhshana's killing.

"It was really inhumane," she told CNN.

But she said provincial authorities had so far not been able to do anything about the atrocity in the village of Aurdak, which the Taliban have controlled for nearly three years.

Joyenda said she has asked President Ashraf Ghani for reinforcements to help retake places like Aurdak but doesn't know when she will have enough security forces and weapons.

Attacks on women and disregard for their rights have been widely documented by international organizations in Afghanistan.

"The prevalence of violence against women and harmful practices continues to be of serious concern," said a report in April by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

A report in the same month by Amnesty International raised concerns about the persecution of women's rights activists in the country, not only by the Taliban and tribal warlords, but also by government officials.

CNN's Masoud Popalzai reported from Kabul, and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong.

[aurora]

Also at the link is a slideshow of pictures contrasting Afghan women's lives pre- and post-Taliban. So sad to be reminded of all the freedom they have lost.


Kabul, 1978


Kabul, 2013

[aurora]

And this is why a cultural obsession of controlling women's virginity and sexuality is a very, very bad thing.

[froggy76]

If you're interested in what's happened to Afghanistan over the last few decades, I highly recommend the book "Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story". It tells the story of a family who lived prosperously in the modern city of Kabul, and how their lives changed after the Taliban took over. Similar to the Kite Runner and those types of books.

[dulcemariamar]

The slideshow pics almost don't seem real to me. It is hard to believe that things could change so much.

[Scout'sHonor]

Nov 4, 2015 9:40:57 GMT -5 dulcemariamar said:

The slideshow pics almost don't seem real to me. It is hard to believe that things could change so much.

Same here, my jaw dropped at the difference.  I had no idea.

[SallyJ]

Nov 4, 2015 10:00:22 GMT -5 Dig Ophelia said:

Nov 4, 2015 9:23:09 GMT -5 aurora said:

And this is why a cultural obsession of controlling women's virginity and sexuality is a very, very bad thing.

Which is why we need to get rid of the concept of virginity, all together.  

Women have never been able to define our own virginity or our own sexuality, and we have never been the ones in control of it.  There are no benefits for women, only for men because it's a male-made concept.   
 

Very true.  Even the wording 'give your virginity' implies that it isn't owned by the woman.

[downtoearth]

That slideshow is amazing and I don't have the strength to watch the stoning video. The sadness and irony that a video on stoning is being recorded on a smart phone is almost disgusting.

This reminds me of Reading Lolita in Tehran - that book was pretty powerful to see the regression of women in Iran in from the late 70's/early80's until mid 90's. They moved from well-received university professors and academic students to pushed out of education and into marriages and more "traditional" roles.