Islam Hates Women > Taliban cuts women’s wages up to 75% in Afghanistan

 

JUN 19, 2024 9:00 AM BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

The Taliban is a brutal jihad group that follows the letter of the Hadiths and Qur’an. See HERE. No amount of effort to try to normalize the Taliban will change its doctrines, and so-called humanitarian aid to Afghanistan will only flow into its coffers and strengthen it against its own people. The Taliban’s latest move to drastically slash the wages of women should be expected. Following the world’s complaining about it, especially at the pointless UN Human Rights Commission, nothing beyond lip service will be done even to attempt to change the treatment of women in Afghanistan.

‘Systematic Discrimination’: Taliban’s Drastic Cut In Salaries

Of Female State Employees Triggers Anger

Radio Free Europe, June 18, 2024:

Shugufta, an elementary school teacher, earned around $300 per month under the previous Western-backed Afghan government.

But after the Taliban seized power in 2021, the extremist group cut the salaries of female government employees by half.

Despite her lower income, Shugufta was relieved to work as the country grappled with an economic meltdown after the Taliban takeover.

The hard-line Islamist group has barred thousands of women employed by the previous government from returning to their jobs. Only women whose jobs cannot be done by men according to the militants’ strict interpretation of Shari’a law — including doctors, nurses, and teachers — have been permitted to work.

But in a major blow, the Taliban-led government last week issued a decree that set the monthly salaries of all female government employees at 5,000 afghanis, or around $70, regardless of their job, qualifications, or experience……

…..Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said the “discriminatory and profoundly arbitrary decision further deepens the erosion of human rights in Afghanistan.”

In a June 13 statement, he called on the Taliban to “rescind all laws, instructions, edicts, and other measures that discriminate against women and girls.”…

Yeah! Good luck with that! This is the manifestation of how valuable devout Muslims consider women to be. 

Islamic Madness > Preached in Canada - Does Islamic Scripture confirm a horrible interpretation of Mark 9:48?

 

Canada: Muslim cleric calls on Muslims to wage jihad

and be killed in the process so they’ll get 72 virgins

JAN 3, 2024 2:30 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER

How many people will be killed because of this exhortation from Sheikh Younus Kathrada? While he is calling upon young Muslims to seek martyrdom, which involves killing and being killed, the Canadian government is busy clamping down on “Islamophobia.”

The Qur’an guarantees paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111). It makes a promise to those who gain a place in paradise: “Indeed, for the righteous is achievement, enclosed gardens and vineyards, and large-breasted women of equal age, and a full cup” (78:31-34). A hadith has Muhammad expand on this: “There is no one whom Allah will admit to Paradise but Allah will marry him to seventy-two wives, two from houris and seventy from his inheritance from the people of Hell, all of whom will have desirable front passages and he will have a male member that never becomes flaccid (i.e., soft and limp)’” (Sunan Ibn Majah vol. 5, book 37, no. 4337). The “inheritance from the people of hell” are women who have been condemned to eternal torment and sentenced to serve their time by becoming sex slaves for the Muslim men in paradise.

This is absolutely stunning! I have never read these passages before and I am astonished by how well it fits with the Bible. In Mark 9:48, when Jesus says, “Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (ESV), He is talking about Hell. Few scholars will attribute that to mean that the male member will never become flaccid, but it strikes me as being appropriate punishment for those who sexually abuse women and children. Imagine the horror of 'never becoming flaccid'. I have always questioned my interpretation of Mark 9:48, but never expected to find what appears to be confirmation in Islamic Scripture.

Why would a virgin be 'people from Hell'?  This is surely a joke being played upon naive Muslim boys to get them to commit suicide. It is madness, like the madness we see in the eyes of the Sheikh in the photo below. Perhaps his madness comes from reaching such an old age and wondering if he completely missed out on the 72 virgins.

Canadian Sheikh Younus Kathrada in Friday Sermon Titled “Jihad and Marytrdom”:

Martyrs Receive 72 Virgins in Paradise, Nobody Has The Right to Mock This – 

We’ll See Who Has the Last Laugh; May Allah Make Us Martyrs,

Grant Victory to the Mujahideen, Curse the Jews

MEMRI, December 1, 2023:

On December 3, 2023, the Muslim Youth Victoria YouTube channel livestreamed a sermon delivered by Canadian Islamic scholar Sheikh Younus Kathrada titled “Jihad and Martyrdom.”

In the sermon, Sheikh Kathrada listed the seven blessings received by a martyr when he is killed while waging Jihad for the sake of Allah, which include receiving 72 black-eyed houri virgins in Paradise. 

Kathrada said that the enemies of Islam mock the Muslims about the promise of 72 virgins and label mujahideen as terrorists, but are in fact jealous of the Muslims, adding: “Let’s see who has the last laugh.” He also cursed Muslims who similarly mock the idea of receiving 72 virgins in Paradise, elaborating that Allah’s martyrs have sacrificed everything for His sake and for the sake of Islam, and that nobody has the right to mock them.

But the reality is, some, if not most of the Muslim martyrs have not sacrificed everything for Allah, but have rather sacrificed everything for 72 virgins. But they will not be virgins, nor will they be found in Paradise.

In addition, he praised the mujahideen in Gaza, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, and said: “I beg of Allah to make us of those who have been martyred in His cause.” He concluded his sermon by asking Allah to grant victory to the mujahideen all over the world, to annihilate the Jews, and to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

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California: Muslim cleric weeps, asks ‘What have we done

wrong to not be martyrs for the sake of Allah?’

JAN 3, 2024 3:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER

In Islam, a martyr is not just someone who is killed for Allah, but someone who kills non-Muslims for Allah.

“Indeed, Allah has bought from the believers their lives and their wealth, because the garden will be theirs, they will fight in the way of Allah and will kill and be killed.” (Qur’an 9:111)

Will anyone in the congregation take Mohammad S. Ahmed’s words to heart?

Torrance, California Imam Mohammad S. Ahmed During Friday Sermon:

The Children Of Israel Have A Long History Of Wickedness, Murder, 

And Occupation; Bursts Into Tears: What Have We Done Wrong To Make Allah 

Not Choose Us To Be Martyrs Like The Palestinians?

MEMRI, December 23, 2023:

Imam Mohammad S. Ahmed broke down in tears during a December 22, 2023 Friday sermon at the Islamic Institute of Torrance, California, asking: “What have we done wrong to not be martyrs for the sake of Allah?” He added: “What have we done for our mothers not to be like the mothers of the martyrs in Palestine […] for our men not to be among those resisting in Palestine?” Ahmed went on to say that the Palestinians have been chosen by Allah to be “the best people living on the earth nowadays.” He said that the Children of Israel have a long history of cowardice, wickedness, and murder and that Allah has punished them for this. The sermon was posted on the YouTube channel of the Islamic Institute of Torrance.

Imam Mohammad S. Ahmed: “Whatever is happening nowadays in Palestine is not something that is new or just recent. The Children of Israel have a long history of cowardice, a long history of wickedness, a long history of murder and occupation, and all kinds of things that Allah has punished them for.

But then, why is Allah punishing you? 

“How come Allah chose those Palestinian Muslims to be closer to him? What have we done wrong to be so far from Allah? What have we done wrong to not be martyrs for the sake of Allah? What have we done wrong to not be blessed like the people in Palestine have been blessed? What have we done wrong for our mothers to not be like the mothers of the martyrs is Palestine? What have we done wrong for our men not to be among those resisting in Palestine?

“What have we done wrong for us not to be chosen for that perfect picture that the Palestinians have drawn today? That perfect picture of faith in Allah, that perfect picture’s trace, that perfect picture of belief. They were chosen for this picture…

“They were chosen for this. This is not our choice, it is the choice of Allah, and He chose them to be the best people living on the face of the earth nowadays. He did not choose us.”

Have you ever heard such madness? You have not been chosen to be martyrs for Allah because the Real God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has given you an opportunity to renounce your false god and turn to the Truth. Jesus said: I am the Truth!

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This is Islam > Sick, twisted, Muslim woman; Nobel Prize-winning woman on hunger strike; Jewish woman murdered in Lyon home

 

Muslim Woman Jokes About ‘Seasoning’ 

the Israeli Baby Baked in an Oven

NOV 6, 2023 4:00 PM BY HUGH FITZGERALD

Who says Muslims don’t have a sense of humor? In France, Warda Anwar posted a video on Instagram in which she discussed the Israeli baby baked alive by Hamas murderers at Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7. Did the “cook” use salt, pepper, a bit of thyme, she wondered, and “what fat did they roast it in?” And what were the side dishes that accompanied the main dish — the traditional pommes frites, with ketchup and mayonnaise as condiments, or something else?

More on this surpassingly evil young woman and her sense of humor can be found here:

“France Takes Legal Action Against Woman Joking About Jewish Baby Cooked in an Oven: ‘Did they Use Salt, Pepper, Thyme, what Fat Did They Roast It In’ (Video),” 

by Amy Mek, RAIR Foundation, November 4, 2023:

A recent Instagram video, posted by an individual using the pseudonym ‘Haneia Nakei’ but identified as Warda Anwar, has sparked outrage and condemnation. The footage contained offensive jokes about a Jewish baby allegedly burned in an oven by Muslim terrorists during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has taken legal action in response to this disturbing content, fueling a broader discussion about freedom of speech and the efforts of left-wing governments to restrict it.

The video featured “Haneia Nakei” [the social media alias used by Warda Anwar] jokingly discussing the recent murder of a baby, humorously speculating about the “accompaniments” for the baby’s leg, and even facetiously declaring, “Each time I come across the story of the baby that was put in the oven. I wonder if they put salt pepper, did they add thyme, and what (fat) did they roast it in? And what were the side dishes… You don’t ask yourself the question? I don’t know. The side dish to this baby leg was just a classic plate of fries with a ketchup and mayonnaise. And we marinated it in salt, thyme, and a barbecue sauce, and paprika. Not bad! I think it’s a rather nice menu!” These highly insensitive remarks have provoked widespread outrage by non-Muslims and pro-Israel supporters.

The offensive video prompted swift condemnation from many leaders, including the Israeli ambassador to France, who strongly denounced the “filthy denialist and antisemitic remarks of the young woman.” The Israeli embassy issued a statement calling for the removal of “Warda Anwar” (a.k.a. Haneia Nakei) from social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok. The video made light of a grave incident during the Israel-Hamas conflict when Hamas executed over 1,400 people, including babies, pregnant women, and elderly individuals, in a barbaric manner.

An Israeli first responder to the October 7 Islamic terror attack reported that Hamas terrorists roasted a baby in an oven in shocking video testimony. Asher Moskowitz of the United Hatzalah first responder group published a video of himself speaking to a camera, delivering his eyewitness account.

In it, he claims he saw the remains of a baby who had been baked to death in an oven at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where more than 100 civilians were killed

The gravity of the woman’s video led to a significant response from the French government. Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on November 3 that he had referred the case to the national prosecutor’s office in Paris, invoking “Article 40 of the Criminal Code.” This action raises important questions about the boundaries of free speech in France, as many argue that such measures may infringe on the principle of freedom of expression.

The woman behind the offensive video, “Haneia Nakei” [Warda Anwar], now faces potential legal consequences. The referral to the national prosecutor’s office means that the legal authorities will review the case to determine whether her comments violated any laws, such as those related to France’s hate speech or incitement to violence. If her actions are found to have breached these laws, she could face criminal charges, fines, or other legal penalties.

Is it conceivable that this kind of grotesque and evil hilarity would not be considered hate speech? It makes light of the murder of a Jewish baby. And think of all the jokes that will now be circulating in “can-you-top-this” competitions on social media, possibly about the kinds of mutilations — the eyes gouged out, the genitalia cut off, the breasts sliced off — that the Israeli victims suffered that day.

The incident highlights the persistent contentious issue of content moderation on social media platforms. It emphasizes the various ways governments exert influence on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat and the increasing pressure placed on them to take action against what governments consider “hate speech” and “offensive” content. Notably, the Israeli embassy has explicitly called for the removal of Warda Anwar’s accounts from these platforms.

Can there be any doubt that Warda Anwar should not just have her accounts removed from social media, but also should be prosecuted for hate speech, and receive not only a stiff fine, but also a prison term, where behind bars (let her sentence be as long as the law allows, and ideally one to be served in solitary confinement), she can indulge her sense of humor to her heart’s content, telling her thigh-slapping jokes to her only audience, the four walls of her cell?

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Jailed Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi on hunger strike

By Paul Godfrey

Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi began a hunger strike from her Tehran prison cell Monday where she is serving a 10-year sentence to protest authorities' neglect of sick inmates and criminalization of women who refuse to wear the hijab.

Mohammadi who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October, made the announcement via her supporters on social media after a week of unsuccessful appeals by her lawyers to get her transferred to hospital for emergency medical care prescribed by prison medical staff.

The 51-year-old has a serious heart condition which following an echocardiogram the doctor at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison said required she be immediately transferred to a specialist heart and lung center for treatment.

"We are concerned about Nargess Mohammadi's physical condition and health. After a week of Narges' follow-ups from prison and her lawyer's appeals to judicial authorities, the prosecutor has blocked her transfer to the hospital, her supporters wrote.

"The Islamic Republic is responsible for anything that happens to our beloved Narges."

Since first being arrested in 2011, mother of two Mohammadi has spent most of the last decade in and out of detention for her civil rights advocacy, and women's rights in particular, that began several years earlier when she became involved with the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran,

Mohammadi began protesting against Iran's excessive use of the death penalty -- it is among the countries that execute the highest proportion of their citizens -- while out on bail, resulting in her being re-imprisoned in 2015.

During her incarceration, she began speaking out against the use of torture and sexualized violence against women prisoners in Iran's penal system, stepping up her activism and helping direct the national protest movement that took hold in the wake of the September 2022 death of Mahsa Jina Amini in police custody.

In awarding the Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee called Mohammadi a woman human rights advocate and a" freedom fighter."

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honor her courageous fight for human rights, freedom and democracy in Iran," it said.

Her mentor, judge-turned-political rights activist Shirin Ebadi, became the Islamic world's first woman to win the Peace Prize in 2003.

Don't forget, Iran now sits as the chair of the UN Human Rights Commission. 

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French Jewish woman stabbed in her home in France’s Lyon,

police hunts suspect

Police were hunting for a man who stabbed and wounded a Jewish woman in the French city of Lyon on Saturday, while a swastika was found graffitied at her home, police and the city's mayor said.

By:NEWS WIRES

"Such an act of violence is unthinkable. I offer all my support to the victim and her relatives," said Lyon Mayor Gregory Doucet on the social media platform X.

A spokesman for the national police gave no further details about the suspect, and said he could not confirm whether police were treating the attack as an anti-Semitic hate crime.

Police in countries around the world have reported a surge in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic offences in the wake of Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

This is Islam > Hamas using kids for shelter; French Intel says Israel did not bomb hospital; Egyptian Journo says Hamas shelters weapons, not people

..

Hamas places rocket launchers near kindergartens, schools,

mosques, UN building

OCT 23, 2023 4:30 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER

Hamas wants civilian casualties, because it knows how valuable those casualties are in the propaganda war. And the international media eagerly plays along, presenting their claims as fact.

..

French military intel concludes Israeli strike NOT behind

Gaza hospital bombing

OCT 24, 2023 8:30 AM BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

French military intelligence has determined that an Israeli strike was not behind the bombing of Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital in Gaza. Yet there are those who remain persistently biased against Israel, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Canada’s Justin Trudeau is one of those, at least as of this writing. Despite IDF proof that was good enough even for Joe Biden, and even after Canadian military intelligence also determined that the strike was “caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza,” Trudeau now remains “oddly quiet,” following his initial rush to blame Israel.

French military intelligence says Israeli strike not behind Gaza hospital blast

by John Irish, Reuters, October 20, 2023:

PARIS, Oct 20 (Reuters) – A blast at a Gaza hospital was not the result of an Israeli missile strike, but likely caused by a misfiring Palestinian rocket, the French military intelligence directorate (DRM) said on Friday.

Palestinian officials said 471 people were killed in the blast at Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital on Tuesday. Gaza’s health ministry blamed an Israeli air strike, while Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by militants.

“There is nothing that allows us to say that it is an Israeli strike, but the most likely (scenario) is a Palestinian rocket that had a firing incident,” the DRM said.

An unclassified U.S. intelligence report seen by Reuters on Thursday said it judged that Israel was not responsible for the blast and estimated the death toll at 100-300 people.

According to the DRM, the impact crater was too small to have been caused by an Israeli missile.

“The most likely hypothesis is a Palestinian rocket, which exploded with a charge of about 5 kilos,” the DRM told reporters, adding that Palestinian groups had small-calibre rockets with that sort of explosive charge.

The DRM does not usually release such information, but on the instruction of President Emmanuel Macron decided to make its findings public given the contrasting accounts about who is responsible….

Contrasting accounts means truth vs lies.

Al Ahli Hospital, Gaza

Egyptian Journalist Ibrahim Eissa: Hamas Considers Lives Of Palestinians Cheap,

It Does Not Care How Many Palestinians Die; They Built Tunnels 

To Shelter Their Weapons, Instead Of Women And Children

MEMRI, October 18, 2023:

Egyptian journalist Ibrahim Eissa criticized Hamas in his October 18, 2023 monologue on Al-Kahera wal Nas TV (Egypt), saying that Palestinian lives are cheap to them and they do not care about the Palestinian cause. He said that Hamas did not prepare bomb shelters in order to protect its women and children, rather, it has prepared underground tunnels in order to shelter its weapons and ammunition. Eissa said that the result of the October 7 attack is that Hamas is destroying the Palestinian cause altogether, “under the pretext of waging resistance.” He warned that the result of the October 7 attack might be the emigration of more than a million Palestinians or the death of 10,000 Palestinians.

 

Ibrahim Eissa: “For 16 years, Hamas has been ruling the Gaza Strip with an iron fist, but has not dug and built any bomb shelters for the Palestinian civilians. The 3,000 people killed [in Gaza] – 64% of whom were women and children – could have been safe in bomb shelters now. Hamas dug tunnels and built an underground city, for its weapons, ammunitions, and its means of killing and destruction, but did not build bomb shelters for the living. Why? Because life is cheap to them.

“The group behind the [October 7] attack is irresponsible. This is a group that does not take into any consideration whatsoever the lives of people or the future of the Palestinians and their cause. Neither me nor anybody else should defend this attack, or its truly sensational success so long as its outcome is so catastrophic.

“This attack has revealed that this group we are dealing with has not only hijacked Palestinian decision-making, but is losing Palestine altogether, under the pretext of waging resistance. The simple question is whether they should not wage resistance. I say, with all due respect: Don’t.

“If this resistance leads to the destruction of the Palestinian cause… If this resistance leads to the emigration of 1.1 or 1.2 million people, nobody really knows the numbers yet… If as a result of this resistance 5,000 [Palestinians] will die… They say: ‘But we killed 2,000 of them.’ Really? Are our lives that cheap? Are lives so cheap that it does not matter if 5,000 or 10,000 of our people die, so long as we know that we killed 2,000 people from the other side? This is how [Hamas] views Palestinian lives. This is the culture of death they are possessed with.”

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Islam - Current Day > IDF Killer shot dead in 2nd attack; Taliban slaughter captives in Panjshir Valley; Iranian athlete sent home for not wearing hijab

..

Terrorist who murdered female soldier last week is killed in new terror attack

October 19, 2022

Emergency responders at the scene of a Palestinian shooting attack in Maale Adumim, Oct. 19, 2022.

(Twitter/Screenshot)

Udai Tamimi, who killed IDF soldier Noa Lazar was shot and killed in Maale Adumim after opening fire on security guards.

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

A Palestinian terrorist who was killed after opening fire on security guards at the entrance to Maale Adumim on Wednesday night was identified as Udai Tamimi, the same gunman who killed IDF Sgt. Noa Lazar last week.

Tamimi’s death ended a 10-day manhunt after he opened fire on a security checkpoint in eastern Jerusalem near the Shuafat refugee camp on Oct. 9. Two other Israelis were injured in that attack.

Tamimi opened fire on guards at the entrance to the Maale Adumim on Wednesday night. Guards returned fire, killing Tamimi who was pronounced dead at the scene by United Hatzalah medics. Hebrew reports said he was found carrying a grenade and knife.

A 24-year-old Israeli security guard was sent to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center with a gunshot wound in the hand. Hospital officials said he was listed in light condition.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid praised the security forces for neutralizing Tamimi and wished a speedy recovery to the injured guard.

“We will not rest until we lay our hands on every terrorist who harms Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. We will act with an iron hand and without hesitation against terrorism,” Lapid said in a statement.

Taliban killed captives in restive Afghan province

By RIAZAT BUTT

October 17, 2022

In this frame grab from video that was likely taken by the Taliban and posted online and provided by Afghan Witness, a UK-based open-source nonprofit, a Taliban fighter stands amid bodies on the ground, in the Dara district, of Panjshir province, Afghanistan, Sept. 14, 2022. The Taliban captured, bound and shot to death 27 men in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley last month during an offensive against resistance fighters in the area, according to a new report by Afghan Witness published Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022 refuting the group’s earlier claims that the men were killed in battle. (Afghan Witness via AP)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The Taliban captured, bound and shot to death 27 men in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley last month during an offensive against resistance fighters in the area, according to a report published Tuesday, refuting the group’s earlier claims that the men were killed in battle.

One video of the killings verified by the report shows five men, blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs. Then, Taliban fighters spray them with gunfire for 20 seconds and cry out in celebration.

The investigation by Afghan Witness, an open-source project run by the U.K.-based non-profit Center for Information Resilience, is a rare verification of allegations that the Taliban have used brutal methods against opposition forces and their supporters, its researchers said. Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed a tighter and harsher rule, even as they press for international recognition of their government.

David Osborn, the team leader of Afghan Witness, said the report gives the ”most clear-cut example” of the Taliban carrying out an “orchestrated purge” of resistance fighters.

Afghan Witness said it analyzed dozens of visual sources from social media — mostly videos and photographs — to conclusively link one group of Taliban fighters to the killings of 10 men in the Dara District of Panjshir, including the five seen being mowed down in the video.

It said it also confirmed 17 other extrajudicial killings from further images on social media, all showing dead men with their hands tied behind their backs. Videos and photos of Taliban fighters with the bodies aided geolocation and chrono-location, also providing close-ups of the fighters at the scene. These were cross-referenced with other videos suspected to feature the group.

“Using open-source techniques we have established the facts around the summary and systematic execution of a group of men in the Panjshir Valley in mid-September,” Osborn said. “At the time of their execution, the detained were bound, posing no threat to their Taliban captors.”

Enayatullah Khawarazmi, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the defense minister, said a delegation is investigating the videos released on social media. He said he was unable to give further details as the investigation is ongoing.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban-run government, was not immediately available for comment.

Last month, Mujahid was reported as saying the Taliban had killed 40 resistance fighters and captured more than 100 in Panjshir. He gave no details on how the 40 men died.

The force fighting in the mountainous Panjshir Valley north of Kabul — a remote region that has defied conquerors before — rose out of the last remnants of Afghanistan’s shattered security forces. It has vowed to resist the Taliban after they overran the country and seized power in August 2021.

Ali Maisam Nazary, head of foreign relations at the National Resistance Front for Afghanistan, said: “The Taliban committed war crimes by killing POWs that surrendered to them point blank and the videos are evidence of this.”

Afghan Witness said it has credible evidence of a further 30 deaths due to last month’s Taliban offensive against alleged resistance fighters in Panjshir.

Iranian athlete Elnaz Rekabi sent home, fate uncertain

after competing without hijab

The Associated Press · 

Posted: Oct 18, 2022 6:55 AM ET | Last Updated: October 18

There is growing concern for the safety of Iranian rock climber Elnaz Rekabi after she competed in South Korea without wearing her nation's mandatory headscarf covering. Some fear Rekabi will be detained — or worse — when she arrives in Iran.

An Iranian female competitive climber left South Korea on Tuesday after competing at an event in which she climbed without her nation's mandatory headscarf covering, authorities said. Farsi-language media outside of Iran warned she may have been forced to leave early by Iranian officials and could face arrest back home, which Tehran quickly denied.

The decision by Elnaz Rekabi to forgo the headscarf, or hijab, came as protests in Iran sparked by the Sept. 16 death in custody of a 22-year-old woman have entered a fifth week. Mahsa Amini was detained by the country's morality police over her clothing.

The demonstrations in over 100 cities represent the most-serious challenge to Iran's theocracy since the mass protests surrounding its disputed 2009 presidential election.

A later Instagram post on an account attributed to Rekabi described her not wearing a hijab as "unintentional," though it wasn't immediately clear whether she wrote the post or what condition she was in at the time.

Rekabi, 33, left Seoul on a Tuesday morning flight, the Iranian Embassy in South Korea said.

But in a tweet, the embassy also denied "all the fake, false news and disinformation" regarding Rekabi's departure. It posted an image of her wearing a headscarf at a previous competition in Moscow, where she took a bronze medal.

Lawyer, human rights activist and senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute Kaveh Shahrooz says Iran is on the precipice of change as people continue to protest against the regime despite brutal crackdowns.

The BBC's Persian service, which has extensive contacts within Iran despite being banned from operating there, quoted an unnamed "informed source" who described Iranian officials as seizing both Rekabi's mobile phone and passport.

BBC Persian also said she initially had been scheduled to return on Wednesday, but her flight apparently had been moved up unexpectedly.

IranWire, another website focusing on the country, founded by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari who once was detained by Iran, alleged that Rekabi would be immediately transferred to Tehran's notorious Evin prison. Evin prison was the site of a massive fire this weekend that killed at least eight prisoners.

Rekabi didn't put on a hijab during Sunday's final at the International Federation of Sport Climbing's Asia Championship, according to the Seoul-based Korea Alpine Federation, the organizers of the event.

'It's about human rights and women's rights'

Shohreh Bayat, an Iranian international chess referee, had a similar experience at the Women's World Chess Championship in Shanghai in January 2020.

She says she was wearing her hijab loosely, allowing her hair to show, and received a warning from the Iranian Chess Federation that she must wear it properly. She refused. 

"I tried to even push it back more to show more of my hair as a protest," she told CBC News's Idil Mussa. 

Shohreh Bayat, after deciding not to wear her hijab during the 2020 International Chess Federation Women's World Chess Championship in Shanghai, on Jan. 11, 2020. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Bayat says as a result, she was ordered to issue a written apology, say all of her achievements belonged to the Iranian regime and to give interviews only to the state-run news agencies. She refused again. 

"I couldn't do the things that they were asking me because it was against what I believe," she said. "This was the right thing to do, and I just wanted to be myself and I wanted to support women's rights and human rights."

Bayat says she stopped wearing the hijab altogether, and wound up seeking asylum in the U.K. after being warned she would be arrested if she returned home to Iran. 

She calls Rekabi "our champion" and says her decision to not wear the headscarf was a very strong statement. 

"It's just not about hijab. It's about human rights and women's rights."

Apology in Instagram post

Federation officials said Rekabi wore a hijab during her initial appearances at the one-week climbing event. She wore just a black headband when competing Sunday, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail; she had a white jersey with Iran's flag as a logo on it.

The later Instagram post, written in the first person, offered an apology on Rekabi's behalf. The post blamed a sudden call for her to climb the wall in the competition — although footage of the competition showed Rekabi relaxed as she approached and after she competed.

Rekabi was on Iran's 11-member delegation, comprised of eight athletes and three coaches, to the event, according to the federation.

Federation officials said they were not initially aware of Rekabi competing without the hijab but looked into the case after receiving inquires about her. They said the event doesn't have any rules requiring female athletes wearing or not wearing headscarves. However, Iranian women competing abroad under the Iranian flag always wear the hijab.

"Our understanding is that she is returning to Iran, and we will continue to monitor the situation as it develops on her arrival," the International Federation of Sport Climbing, which oversaw the event, said in a statement. "It is important to stress that athletes' safety is paramount for us and we support any efforts to keep a valued member of our community safe in this situation."

The federation said it had been in touch with both Rekabi and Iranian officials, but declined to elaborate. The federation also declined to discuss the Instagram post attributed to Rekabi and the claims in it.

Hundreds killed in protests

Rekabi has finished on the podium three times in the Asian Championships, taking one silver and two bronze medals for her efforts.

So far, human rights groups estimate that over 200 people have been killed in the protests and the violent security force crackdown that followed. Iran has not offered a death toll in weeks. Thousands are believed to have been arrested.

Gathering information about the demonstrations remains difficult, however. Internet access has been disrupted for weeks by the Iranian government. Meanwhile, authorities have detained at least 40 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have repeatedly alleged the country's foreign enemies are behind the ongoing demonstrations, rather than Iranians angered by Amini's death and the country's other woes.

Iranians have seen their life savings evaporate; the country's currency, the rial, plummet; and Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers has been reduced to tatters.