Women’s rights activists in Afghanistan are accusing the Taliban of murdering a young Afghan YouTuber Hora Sadat, despite the Taliban’s arrest of two people for the crime.
Hora Sadat, a popular YouTuber, was killed on Monday August 21 in Kabul in circumstances that are still unclear.
On Thursday, Khaled Zadran, the Taliban spokesperson for Kabul police, posted on the website X (formerly Twitter) that Hora Sadat had been killed in Kabul’s 18th district and police have arrested two people, including a woman, in connection with her death.
It is not clear how Hora Sadat died or what the motives might have been. Ms Sadat’s family have not officially given details to the media about her death.
It’s the latest in a number of unsolved murders of women that some women’s rights groups blame on Taliban perpetrators who go unpunished.
In a statement Saturday, members of the Afghan Women’s Movement laid the blame for Hora Sadat’s death and many other mysterious murders of girls and women on the Taliban. They claimed Taliban forces secretly buried Ms Sadat’s body without the presence of her family members in the Karte Sakhi area, and the grave is under strict supervision of Taliban members.
A member of the movement, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Rukhshana Media, “When we wanted to go to Hora’s grave, the Taliban forces stopped us first and asked us what we were going there for. We said that we her relatives and we are going to read Fatiha at her grave, only then they allowed us.”
Reaction and speculation about Ms Sadat’s death has been widespread on social media. Others suggest the killing was in retribution for her refusal to marry a Taliban member.
Monis Mubarez wrote on X, “Hora had a suitor from the Taliban; she repeatedly refused and received warnings, finally they took her life.”
While the Women’s Movement for Freedom wrote, allegedly quoting her relatives, that Taliban forces had gang-raped Hora and then killed her.
The case has prompted reaction from abroad, with Hannah Newman, a member of the European Union Parliament, writing in response to news of Ms’s Sadat murder, “What security looks like under the Taliban, if you do not share the Taliban’s ideology.”
Ms Sadat, was one of the famous Afghan YouTubers who was active on the Kabul Fans YouTube channel.
After the fall of the previous Afghan government at the hands of the Taliban, the freedom of speech and media in the country has been heavily restricted, including the activities of YouTubers.
In December last year, the Taliban raided a YouTuber’s house in Kabul arresting the host and six others, including three women. Some were imprisoned for several months.
Ms Sadat’s death has increased calls for protection for women as women claim they are targeted by the Taliban and their murders are not being investigated.
In September last year, a young woman named Halima Emami was shot dead by unknown gunmen near vegetable market and fruit shop in Bamyan city.
Last winter, Morsal Nabizada, a member of Afghanistan’s lower house, was shot dead by unknown people in her home along with one of her bodyguards.
In the Afghan Women’s Movement statement, the group called on the international community and organizations that support human rights and women’s rights around the world to help stop these crimes and not let the Afghan people, especially women, become victims every day and their voices be silenced.
The statement added that any international effort to engage with the Taliban as a legitimate government is normalising terrorism in both Afghanistan and the region.
Rukhshana Media has made multiple attempts to contact Ms Sadat’s family for comment.
