Afghan Women Prisoners Complain of Bad Conditions and Sexual Abuse

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http://www.afgha.com/?af=article&sid=47503

Women Prisoners in Northern Afghanistan Complain of Bad Conditions and Sexual Abuse

Pajwak Afghan News
01/10/2005
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MAZAR-E-SHARIF - Women prisoners in the central jail, in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif have complained of the lack of health care, heating and food in the jails where they are held. The female inmates claim that the prison conditions are dire and they claim that they are sexually abused, but the prison authorities have denied these allegations categorically.

Some eleven women and two children, held in this prison, have to live in cold cells during these winter months. But they say they want to change their living conditions in the prisons. A teacher, Sayed Bigum from the Shaikh Shahabuddin School in the capital city is spending a 20-year jail sentence for the murder of her husband. Speaking to Pajhwok Afghan News, she expressed her views about the prison. "This is not a prison; it is a 'Haramsarai' or a harem. Everyone comes and sexually abuses us." But she did not elaborate on who would enter the prisons and commit immoral acts against the women prisoners.

Twenty-six year-old Mari, is a resident of Faizabad of Jowzjan province, serving time for the murder of her husband said: "We are prisoners and all kinds of cruelty is committed against us, and there is no one to turn to." But the prison authorities vehemently deny the allegations made by the prisoners and say there are female prison guards to take care of the women. The inspector in charge of the Mazar jail, Mohammad Sharif Ghorbandi, told Pajhwok: "Except for two female guards, no one else is allowed to enter the cells where women prisoners are kept. All these claims made by the women are unfounded." But the Human Rights Commission in Mazar responsible for assessing Afghan prisons says the conditions in these prisons are unbearable.

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[Wabbajack]

1. "The female inmates claim that the prison conditions

are dire and they claim that they are sexually abused."

Sounds just like our prisons here in the good ol' US of A.