Shocking moment Taliban thug WHIPS female students outside Afghanistan university: Ministry of Virtue official lashes out at women in hijabs for not wearing full body-covering burkas
- Students at Badakhshan University said they have been barred from entering
- The female students claimed they were beaten by Taliban for not wearing burkas
- Footage shows Ministry of Virtue and Vice official using a whip to disperse them
- Taliban’s religious police say proper attire for women in public is a niqab or burka
Shocking footage shows female Afghan students being whipped by a Taliban official after they were barred from entering their university campus because they were not wearing burkas.
The women, students at Badakhshan University in northeastern Afghanistan, said they were beaten by Taliban officials from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice for wearing hijabs – headscarves – instead of burkas.
In a video posted on social media today, one of the Taliban government’s guards can be seen chasing after the students with a whip and lashing them to disperse them.
The footage shows dozens of women standing outside the university gates holding books and other school supplies as men are able to walk past them and get inside.
It comes nearly three months after the Taliban’s religious police introduced stricter measures on how women dress in Badakhshan, particularly in the capital Faizabad which is where the university is located.
Female students at Badakhshan University in northeastern Afghanistan said they were beaten by Taliban officials from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice for wearing hijabs – headscarves – instead of burkas
One of the Taliban government’s guards can be seen chasing after the students with a whip and lashing them to disperse them
According to the Directorate of Vice and Virtue, proper attire for women in public is either a niqab – a veil covering the head and face but not the eyes – or a burka – a veil that covers the entire body and face, with a mesh window across the eyes.
Mursal, a student at Badakhshan University, told Alive in Afghanistan that she has witnessed women being turned away for not wearing the proper dress code.
Another student, Samia, told the news website last month: ‘We were stopped on the way to university today and they even checked our fingernails. They wanted to slap a student for wearing nail polish, but the girl ran away. They called ahead to the next checkpoint to apprehend and punish her.’
Public universities reopened for female students in February – nearly six months after the Taliban took control of the country – but with strict dress regulations and segregated teaching for men and women.
Female students crowd outside the gates of Badakhshan University. They claim they have been barred from entering because they were not wearing the right attire
Men can be seen walking straight past the Taliban guard and into the university while the female students are forced to wait outside
Secondary education for girls is still banned in the country, meaning that soon women will not have the qualifications needed to enrol in higher education.
Last month Taliban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai called on the authorities to reopen schools for girls beyond the sixth year, arguing that there is no valid reason in Islam for the ban.
But a source with Taliban leadership ties told the Guardian that even if practical barriers to women entering higher education are removed, the authorities are considering limiting them to degrees in healthcare and education.
The Taliban is known for its extreme interpretation of the Sharia law – Islam’s legal system which is based on the Quran and teachings from scholars.
It acts as a code of conduct for Muslims but some interpretations mean women can be treated harshly in terms of what they wear and what they are seen as being allowed to do.
Previously, under Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, women weren’t allowed to work or be educated.
They were banned from wearing certain items of clothing, such as shoes with high heels, and could not leave the house without a male chaperone.
The Taliban launched a 10-day takeover of Afghanistan in August last year as United States-led forces withdrew from the country.
This was despite billions of dollars being spent by the US and Nato over nearly two decades to build up Afghan security forces.
The takeover culminated in the fall of the capital Kabul on August 15 as president Ashraf Ghani fled to Abu Dhabi and admitted the Taliban had won.
Chaos ensued at Kabul’s airport as people tried to flee, with refugees pictured clinging to planes as they tried to take off.
