Darya’s Story

Darya is a prominent women’s rights defender and co-founder of a spontaneous women’s movement in Afghanistan. An educated professional with a background in law, she became a vocal advocate for women’s rights after the Taliban takeover in 2021. 

Refusing to accept the systematic rollback of freedoms, particularly bans on education and work for women, she organized and participated in street protests, indoor demonstrations, wall writings, and media appearances to highlight the plight of Afghan women and demand basic human rights.

She was arrested for her peaceful activism against Taliban policies. The authorities viewed her protests, media interviews, and coordination of demonstrations as crimes against the “Islamic system.” Specifically, on 9 February 2023, she was detained while organizing a small gathering to advocate for the release of a detained university professor. Her long-term activism, including her leadership of a women’s movement, made her a high-profile target.

Darya was arrested in a narrow alley in Kabul near Pul-e-Sorkh. Taliban forces, acting on prior surveillance, blocked the road with vehicles and stopped her car. Armed men with no female officers present forced her out at gunpoint, confiscated her belongings, and took her first to a local police station, then to the notorious Directorate 40 intelligence facility. She was held for approximately 80 days (officially recorded as 66), including 35 days in solitary confinement in a freezing, filthy, brightly lit cell with constant surveillance. Later, she was moved to a general cell shared with other detainees.

No formal charges were presented in a court, no lawyer was allowed, and no trial took place. Interrogations occurred multiple times daily, often preceded and followed by torture. Authorities forced her to unlock her phone, reviewed protest videos and messages, and accused her of ties to foreign entities, espionage, and anti-regime activities. They demanded names of collaborators and pressured her to make false confessions. When she refused, she was subjected to further abuse. Prosecutors and interrogators, described as tyrannical and ignorant of fair legal standards, operated without independent oversight.

Throughout the process, the following human rights violations were observed: 

• Severe physical torture: repeated whippings, electric shocks, beatings, scalding with hot tea, submersion in cold water, and forced exposure to freezing conditions, causing lasting health damage requiring surgery.
• Psychological torture: threats of execution (including stoning), false claims of family arrests, prolonged solitary confinement, sleep deprivation via constant bright lights, and forced ingestion of potentially drugged food.
• Inhuman detention conditions: denial of water, hygiene products, medical care, and adequate clothing; unsanitary cells; restricted bathroom access.
• Discrimination: verbal abuse targeting her gender, Shia identity, and language; placement with ISIS-affiliated detainees who physically attacked her due to sectarian hatred.
• Detention of a child: her young son was held with her for 18 days to prevent him from speaking to the media.
• Absence of female staff during arrest and initial stages, violating gender-sensitive procedures.

After intense domestic and international advocacy, including media coverage, interventions by the UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, UNAMA, and human rights organizations, River of Courage was released under external pressure. The Taliban extorted significant sums of money and issued threats of re-arrest if she resumed activism. She continues to suffer long-term physical and psychological trauma.

Darya’s ordeal underscores the Taliban’s systematic use of arbitrary detention and torture to silence women demanding their fundamental rights. Her courage in refusing to betray her colleagues, even under extreme duress, remains a powerful testament to the resilience of Afghan women activists.