The deputy head of the Office of the Prisons Administration, Habibullah Badar, said the Taliban has instructed prison officials to not punish the prisoners….reports Asian Lite News
Officials at Afghanistan’s Prisons Administration have said more than 500 women charged with various crimes are imprisoned in the country’s prisons, TOLO News reported.
TOLO News is an Afghan news channel broadcasting from Kabul. As per officials, in total, there are over 17,000 prisoners in the country’s prisons.
The deputy head of the Office of the Prisons Administration, Habibullah Badar, said the Taliban has instructed prison officials to not punish the prisoners.
Badar said that there are no political inmates in Afghanistan’s prisons.
“The number of women in the prisons is between 500 to 550. Some are being detained and some are released … We are trying to release them if their crime is less,” he said, as per TOLO News.
As per political analysts, male and female prisoners should be provided with equal rights.
A political analyst, Javid Momand, said: “The right of a prisoner is that efforts should be paid for their reform. As you see in other countries, prisons are like universities. There are educational programs and when they are released to society, they are disciplined.”
“The women in the prisons have the right to have access to their families, lawyers and human rights organizations and the right to defend themselves,” said Ruqia Sayi, a women’s rights activist, as per TOLO News.
Taliban threaten beauty salon owners
Following the Taliban order to ban beauty salons run by women in several provinces across Afghanistan, the Director of Promotion of Virtue and Prohibition of the Taliban in Ghazni Province warned them to end such activities by the end of the month, according to Khaama Press.
They summoned the family members of several owners of women’s beauty salons on Thursday. The Khaama Press News Agency is the largest online news service for Afghanistan, established in October 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In the event of violation, the officials threatened to prosecute and punish the husbands of the beauty salon owners or their family members.
According to a decree issued by the Taliban’s Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, women’s beauty parlours in Afghanistan will no longer be allowed to operate after July 23, reported Khaama Press.
Further, as per the report, there are over 12,000 women’s beauty salons across the country, with an average of 5 women employed by each. There are 3,100 women-only beauty salons in Kabul.
Days after the Taliban issued a decree banning women’s beauty salons across the country, several women makeup artists protested against the move, urging that the order be rescinded, Tolo News reported.
The protesters gathered at the Union of Women’s Beauty Salons saying that the closure of beauty salons will lead to severe economic challenges for them. (ANI)
