At least ten people who identify as LGBTQ have been detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan with some held in private prisons, raising concerns for their wellbeing.
In an open letter to the United Nations and other human rights organizations, a number of Afghan LGBTQ people called for support in securing justice for the detainees.
The letter also lists a number of human rights abuses being committed against people with same-sex attraction and those who are transgender, including forced marriages and sexual abuse.
“In these two years [since the Taliban takeover], we have recorded a small part of the terrible crimes that the Taliban have committed against the LGBTIQ community in Afghanistan,” the letter states.
“Our documentary reports indicate that at least ten members of the Afghan Rainbow Community are currently in Taliban custody.
“We Afghan LGBTQ activists have tried many times to become the voice of the most silent part of Afghanistan and other protesters against the Taliban, but it seems that the eyes and ears of the world are not willing to see and hear.”
The letter says that a large number of members of the LGBT community in Afghanistan have attempted or committed suicide since the Taliban took control.
“According to the latest findings, most of these people were lesbian and transgender women.
“In the past two years, a large number of lesbian and trans women have been forced into marriage,” it adds.
“We have also received reports that the Taliban have established private prisons for members of the LGBTQ community in big cities in Afghanistan. According to our findings, at least two transgender persons under the age of 19 were transferred to one of these prisons after being identified by the Taliban in Herat, where they were tortured and raped.”
The LGBTQ community of Afghanistan has asked the United Nations and human rights institutions to investigate the crimes of the Taliban against the community in Afghanistan. It asks them to “hold the perpetrators accountable, sanction the Taliban on all global platforms and exert maximum diplomatic pressure on this group.”
“According to reliable reports, during these two years, many members of the LGBTQ community were mysteriously killed or disappeared,” they say in the letter. “After being arrested, some others were tortured and raped in prisons, and some were stoned to death in distant provinces and at best were sexually exploited.”
Last year, Human Rights Watch published a report saying that the life of LGBTQ people in Afghanistan is under severe threat after the Taliban rule in this country.
