The Taliban’s unexplained detainment of a former female police officer in Ghazni province who is two months pregnant, according to her family, has sparked concerns for her wellbeing and safety.
Mahtab Hamdard has been detained for over three weeks and her family is unable to get any information of her whereabouts, according to her relatives. It’s the second time in as many months that Taliban forces have detained the former police officer, but previously she was released after ten days.
Ms Hamdard had served as a police officer in Daikundi provincial women’s prison before Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban in August 2021. After the Ghani government collapsed, Hamdard travelled to Kabul from Daikundi and tried to live secretly out of fear of the Taliban. But after some time, she joined women’s protest groups in Kabul and participated in the demonstrations against the ban on girls’ education and women’s work. But she eventually returned to her home province of Ghazni.
Her family says she was first taken by Taliban forces from home in the center of Ghazni province more than a month ago and was transferred to an unknown location. She was released after ten days with the Taliban’s amnesty during Eid. But on April 27, a source close to the family say the Taliban forces returned for her and beat members of her family in the process.
According to the source, the Taliban forces would not give any reason for the arrest and are currently denying Ms Hamdard is detained at all.
How was Mahtab Hamdard arrested for the second time?
Around 10:00 pm on April 27, a number of heavily armed men knocked at the house of the Hamdard family. Sources close to the incident say the family didn’t open the gate straight away as they suspected the Taliban had come again for Mahtab and they were trying to get her out of the house to protect her. But the Taliban forces broke through the gate and entered the house. They beat a male member of the family and tied his hands behind his back.
It was not clear which department the forces were from, the source says.
The Taliban forces proceeded to search the house for Mahtab, and treated all the family harshly. They eventually found Mahtab hiding in the bathroom and took her away with them.
The family told Rukhshana Media they have no information about Mahtab’s condition and whereabouts. Some relatives have even been told by Taliban security departments in Ghazni that the Taliban have not arrested her.
Ms Hamdard’s family is worried she will suffer the fate of Alia Azizi, the former head of the women’s prison in Herat province, who disappeared from her workplace during the first days of the Taliban takeover of the country two years back. Initially there was no information about what had happened to her, but now her family says that she was forced to marry one of the Taliban commanders. A member of Azizi’s family sent a photo of Alia to Rukhshana Media as proof.
A number of people are protesting this latest detainment of a former officer and have launched posts declaring her release with the hashtag #FreeMahtab.
Taliban officials have refused to comment on the issue.
Many women who protest publicly or even privately online have been detained without charge by Taliban forces across the country. While some of them are released after a short time, there are some whose fate is still unknown and unexplained.
