LGBTQ Afghans say they face abuse in detention as Taliban crackdown intensifies

CNN — Warning: This report contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence. In response to CNN’s findings, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “acts such as sodomy, bestiality and other perversions that contravene Islamic law are illegal and perpetrators dealt with within the legal framework.” They added: “These allegations are fabrications as the alleged claims of torture, rape, persecution and mistreatment are themselves explicit violations of the legal framework.” CNN was able to locate the former detainees through two human rights charities: Roshaniya, a nonprofit organization working to relocate persecuted LGBTQ Afghans to safe countries, and Afghan LGBT Organization, a Czech Republic-based advocacy group established in 2021 to monitor human rights abuses in Afghanistan. “But now, after three years, I can see that, for example, the Taliban uses sexual violence as a weapon to oppress the LGBTQI community.” Afghan LGBT Organization has verified more than 50 cases of detention of LGBTQ people since August 2021, using documentation issued by the Taliban, such as letters and arrest warrants, and is working to verify a further 150 cases reported by individuals. “Some villagers had informed the Taliban that there was a girl who wore men’s clothes.” Nazari, who fled before later being beaten and briefly detained by the Taliban, is now in a safe country but says living under Taliban rule is “forever etched in my mind, memories of fear, helplessness, and loss of hope.” Others have been detained over content found on their phones or posted on social media, suggesting the Taliban could be using the internet to track down members of the LGBTQ community, Akbary said. Women and LGBTQ Afghans ‘united in their suffering’ In February, Afghan LGBT Organization and Outright International wrote a joint letter to Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN’s under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, highlighting a “lack of inclusion of LGBTIQ perspectives in UN engagement on Afghanistan.” Top UN officials and global envoys met with the Taliban in Qatar in June to discuss human rights concerns.