(THEME MUSIC PLAYS)
RAMITA NAVAI: We're entering a world where women are disappearing...
(CELL DOOR CLANKS)
..where they're jailed without trial,
their fate unknown...
..where girls are abducted from their homes
..where girls are abducted and forcibly married...
..where women live in hiding...
(WOMAN CRIES)
and in fear of their lives...
..hunted and in fear of their lives...
..and those who speak out risk imprisonment.
This is the Afghanistan
the Taliban don't want the world to see.
After the Taliban swept to power and proclaimed Islamic law,
we began investigating the fate of Afghanistan's women,
often working undercover.
The regime had pledged to protect women's rights,
but we'd heard reports that in the west of the country
young women had started disappearing without trace.
I had the name of one of them.
We're going to call her Maryam.
(ISLAMIC CALL TO PRAYER OVER LOUDSPEAKERS)
(TRAFFIC BUZZES)
In Herat city centre
the Taliban were on the watch
for anyone who might be a threat to their rule
or anyone breaking their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
The day before
they'd shot dead a doctor who failed to stop at a checkpoint.
We keep hearing that Taliban Intelligence
We keep hearing is really strong here in Herat
and that there are informants everywhere,
so, while everything seems normal,
when you talk to people here,
there's a real atmosphere of fear and mistrust.
The brother of Maryam, the missing woman, was waiting on a side street.
He didn't want to be seen with journalists.
We would soon find
this was a country where many people were afraid to talk.
Maryam had disappeared three weeks ago.
Her mother showed me pictures of her graduating
just before the Taliban takeover.
(SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE) Mm-hm.
Her dream was to become a film director.
They've packed all her things away
and they just...
Her mother broke down crying as she's going through her things now.
Ah...
We asked a group of female lawyers in Herat
We asked a group of female lawyers to look into Maryam's disappearance.
The Taliban had banned them from working and were watching them,
The Taliban had banned them but they agreed to help.
Within days the lawyers called us to a secret meeting.
They had inside information on what might have happened to Maryam.
These women say they are risking their lives just by being here,
but they've come because they think it's important the world knows
what's happening to women and girls in Herat.
Their contacts had told them
that the Istikhbarat, the feared Taliban Intelligence service,
that the Istikhbarat, the feared was jailing women without trial
for so-called moral crimes,
such as travelling without a male relative.
The lawyer said it suited the Taliban
to keep what the regime was doing to the women secret.
(TRAFFIC HUMS)
Maryam's family had finally received news of her.
Salaam. Salaam.
(SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
Maryam was alive.
She was being held in Herat Central Prison.
The family received a letter
from their daughter
that was smuggled out of prison.
Her sister read it out to us.
In her letter Maryam said that some friends had been arrested
for riding in a taxi without a male relative.
They called from a police station asking for help.
They called from a police station When Maryam arrived
she too was arrested by Taliban Intelligence agents.
Maryam's family asked the Taliban authorities about her,
Maryam's family asked but they denied she was in jail.
To find out the truth,
without mentioning Maryam's name, we asked to film in the prison.
A week later the Taliban sent their answer.
We've been told we can film in the men's section,
and, when we're there, we're going to see if we can get permission
and, when we're there, we're going to film in the women's section.
The new Taliban prison governor, Mullah Mohammad Nabi Khalil,
The new Taliban prison governor, was waiting for us.
He wanted to show the world he ran his prison correctly.
Our tour of the men's wing began,
watched by a dozen Taliban escorts.
We were told not to speak to prisoners.
(SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
The governor said there were over 700 men,
mostly charged with theft and awaiting trial.
Eventually, the prison chief agreed to take us
to where we suspected Maryam and the other women were being held.
We're about to enter the women's prison,
We're about to enter and he's already told me
that we can't interview any of the prisoners on camera.
I'm going to see if I can chat to them.
Using a hidden camera
I started to film.
Around 40 women were huddled in a courtyard.
At least another 50 were locked up in nearby cells.
They were the missing women we'd been looking for.
Salaam.
No-one knew I was filming,
but the prison chief sent orders to stop talking to the prisoners.
(MAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
Then I spotted a young woman
I recognised from the photographs her mother had shown me.
It was Maryam.
How are you doing?
I spoke in English so the guards wouldn't understand.
I spoke in English Why have you been taken?
And what for? What crime?
OK.
I'm a prison guard told Maryam to stop speaking English. OK.
I'm a prison guard told Maryam to stop speaking English.
Maryam told me what she knew the guard would want to hear.
Uh-uh.
OK.
Good to see you. Good to see you. Great to speak to you.
Thank you so much.
We were asked to leave.
The Taliban has insisted to the world it protects women's rights,
but what had begun as a search for Maryam
had revealed dozens of women jailed without trial
had revealed dozens of women for leaving their husbands
or for sheltering in refuges from domestic abuse
or even just for travelling unaccompanied.
Maryam's family could now search for ways to free her.
(TRAFFIC BUZZES)
In the capital
we found an underground network
of young women running secret safe houses.
They were helping other women and their families escape the Taliban.
The regime says
it doesn't persecute people for the jobs they held in the past,
but the network's experience was different.
Hundreds of men and women have disappeared or been murdered,
including female police officers, lawyers and journalists.
The network called a family seeking refuge in the city.
MAN: (ON PHONE) Hello?
Many of the families hope to leave Afghanistan.
The women organising the network lived in hiding.
The Taliban was searching for them too.
Another family was about to arrive in Kabul.
I just got a phone call from one of the women's network.
She says that they've received an urgent message
about a family that have fled Takhar Province.
They fled the Taliban and they're on their way to Kabul now.
They fled the Taliban and They don't know anyone here,
they've got no money They don't know anyone here,
they've got no money and they need help.
The network planned to meet the family outside Kabul
and bring them to a safe house inside the city.
It would mean a dangerous journey through Taliban checkpoints.
To make sure they're not being followed
they change taxis several times.
I was filming with a hidden camera.
They met the family in a room near a bus station.
Aisha, her husband and four children had travelled 15 hours
at constant risk of arrest.
They'd abandoned their possessions and were destitute.
(SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
They were taken to a safe house.
Aisha had been a radio journalist,
but, although the Taliban pledged there'd be a free press,
dozens of journalists have been attacked or arrested,
and, the week before, they'd stepped up their search for Aisha.
She says the Taliban arrested her brother,
torturing him in the hope he'd reveal Aisha's whereabouts.
(TRAFFIC DRONES)
(BIRDS TWITTER)
Some women in Kabul still dared to openly challenge the Taliban's claims
Some women in Kabul still dared to to uphold the rights of women.
We came across a demonstration,
which I joined, filming with a hidden camera.
One of the Taliban's first actions
was to close One of the Taliban's first actions
was to close the Ministry of Women's Affairs,
was to close describing it as having no function.
These women all worked there and were demanding their jobs back.
(CAR HORNS BLARE)
Our director filmed at a distance.
But agents from the Taliban Intelligence service arrived,
But agents from the Taliban breaking up the protest
and threatening our director breaking up the protest
and threatening our director with violence
before taking his camera. and threatening our director with violence
before taking his camera.
(SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
The protesters scattered
and we drove off before we could be detained.
The Taliban says these protests are banned
The Taliban says in the interests of public security.
(ISLAMIC CALL TO PRAYER in the interests of public security.
(ISLAMIC CALL TO PRAYER OVER LOUDSPEAKERS)
We've been in touch with quite a few women protesters here in Kabul,
We've been in touch with quite but the same thing keeps happening -
we arrange to meet them
and they pull out we arrange to meet them
and they pull out because the Taliban get to them,
see them at protests and the threats start.
But there's one women's group who continue to meet,
and they're allowing us to join them at a secret meeting tomorrow.
(CHATTER IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
In the past few months
this group had organised 52 protests
demanding the reopening of girls schools.
They were the first women we met
willing to show their faces on camera.
Before the Taliban took over,
Lena was a lawyer.
Wahida was a librarian.
Arifa had been about to open a restaurant.
Arifa had been about to open Overnight she lost everything.
(GROUP SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
The group debated their next step.
The Taliban Intelligence service
had that week warned the women to stop their protests
had that week warned or face jail or even death.
(SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
In Herat Maryam was still in prison.
Because there was no trace of her in the system
Because there was no trace of her and no crime had been recorded,
her family had been able to use their connections
and negotiate directly with the Taliban.
There'd been a breakthrough.
(SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
Her mother was just standing at the house gates waiting for her daughter.
(CRIES)
Finally, Maryam and her mother were reunited.
(BOTH CRY)
Maryam's friends had also been released and were with her.
Maryam told us
that when she went to the police Maryam told us
that when she went to the police station to help her friends
that when she went to the police a Talib had taken her phone.
The other girls said they were tasered and beaten too.
The other prisoners told them
they'd also been jailed without any investigation or trial.
Maryam and her friends said the Taliban offered them an escape route.
Just as we were leaving
one of the women took me aside and told me they are now marked women,
that the families are blaming them for dishonouring the community
and that nobody will marry them.
She also says that none of those women can leave their homes
not just because they're scared of the Taliban
but because they're scared of the neighbours.
They've gone from one prison to another.
They've gone from one prison (CHILDREN SHOUT AT PLAY)
We'd heard reports
that, in another province,
Talibs were using violence and intimidation
Talibs were using violence to force young girls into marriage,
despite the regime announcing the practice was forbidden.
We travelled north to Badakhshan
through the Salang Tunnel and the Hindu Kush Mountains.
Salaam. (SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
Faizabad was one of the last northern cities to fall to the Taliban.
Faizabad was one of the last northern (TRAFFIC BUZZES)
Now fighters from the mountains roamed the streets.
If they wanted to snatch girls for marriage, no-one could stop them.
This is footage we verified,
and we know the identities This is footage we verified,
and we know the identities of those involved.
Taliban fighters have tied a man to a tree
Taliban fighters and are beating him with rifle butts.
(INDISTINCT YELLING)
He'd encountered the fighters
abducting a girl to be forcibly married to a Taliban commander
abducting a girl to be forcibly and tried to intervene.
(INDISTINCT YELLING)
The attack lasted 30 minutes.
(INDISTINCT YELLING)
I've spoken to four contacts so far here in Badakhshan Province
I've spoken to four contacts and they've all told me
that the Taliban are forcefully and they've all told me
that the Taliban are forcefully taking women and girls as brides,
and one person said it just happened to her own cousin,
but they're all too scared to even meet me
because Faizabad is a small town and the Taliban monitor everything.
A wealthy businessman met with us secretly.
A wealthy businessman He said, a few weeks earlier,
his 19-year-old cousin had been forced to marry
a powerful Taliban commander 40 years older than her.
The Taliban commander had come to the girl's home,
put a gun to her father's head and demanded his consent to the marriage.
In a different province we met another man
who'd also witnessed a girl being kidnapped by the Taliban.
When he challenged the Taliban, they turned on him.
When he challenged the Taliban, (CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
Neighbours saved him, pleading for his life.
He told us the Taliban were increasingly aggressive,
He told us the Taliban especially towards women.
What's striking about being in the countryside
is that we're hearing so many stories of abuse at the hands of the Taliban,
but none of these stories are getting out.
The area's remote, journalists have fled
and the Taliban beat anyone caught filming something they don't like.
Under the Taliban
more than half of Afghanistan's media outlets have closed,
more than half of Afghanistan's but in Faizabad
Radio Sada-e-Banoan - but in Faizabad
Radio Sada-e-Banoan - The Voice Of Women -
Radio Sada-e-Banoan - was still on air.
(RADIO HOST SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
The station was founded and run by women,
The station but now only men were in the studio.
The Talib information chief's first caller
was a journalist from the radio station
asking if she was allowed to return to work.
(SPEAKS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
(CHATTER IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
(DOG BARKS)
Later, when the station was off air,
we returned to meet its founder and head, Najia Sorosh.
Hello?
Najia, salaam. Hello?
Najia, salaam.
The Taliban had banned Najia from the office when men were present,
The Taliban had banned Najia from citing Islamic law.
She said they wanted her to resign and she was being threatened.
The Taliban had told her women could no longer host phone-ins
in case they inflamed the passions of male callers.
A few days later
Najia would flee the province,
saying the threats against her had become too much.
(CHATTER IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
After being released from prison in Herat
Maryam had contacted the underground women's network in Kabul.
We filmed as they met Maryam outside the airport.
Her brother and younger sister had come too.
The guys have just arrived at the emergency safe house.
They're going to stay here for the next few days
until they find them a more permanent safe house to live in.
And they're going to now debrief them.
Maryam was pinning her hopes on going abroad.
I'm waiting to see Bilal Karimi.
He's the deputy government spokesperson.
He's the deputy And I want to put
some of the allegations we've been hearing to him.
(KNOCKS) Hello.
We covered some cases of women who were arrested and imprisoned
We covered some cases of women for immorality,
and their cases were not officially registered.
They were being held without charge.
I've spoken to young women who told me
I've spoken to young women that, when they were arrested,
Taliban officers that, when they were arrested,
Taliban officers used tasers to electrocute them.
I've also spoken to former female prisoners
who've said that some prisoners were told
if they married Talibs, they would be released.
if they married Talibs, Will you investigate that?
I've spoken to some families
who've told me that Talibs are forcefully marrying women and girls.
Why is this happening?
International Women's Day was approaching.
There were rumours women would mark it with demonstrations.
We met up again with Arifa,
part of the protest group
who demonstrated when the Taliban first came to power.
Two of Arifa's friends we'd met earlier had been jailed.
She showed me footage of Lena and Wahida,
who'd been forced to make public confessions
that they'd been paid by foreign governments.
International Women's Day.
The Taliban set up extra checkpoints across Kabul.
The protest group hoped to stage a demonstration,
The protest group but some of them were being watched.
We're on our way to meet the protesters,
but they've already told me
that they're having problems leaving their homes.
that they're having problems One of them left a voice message
to tell me that there were two Talibs right on her street.
So, the Talibs do not want women protesting today.
It was too dangerous to hold a street protest,
but Arifa and the other women gathered in private.
(CHATTER IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
Arifa took to the stage.
She had brought with her a work by the poet Mohammad Sharif Saiidi,
written for the women of Afghanistan.
(APPLAUSE)
A few days later
the Taliban broke their promise to allow girls back to school.
But they continue to insist that they respect the rights of women.
The women we met said that with every day their hopes evaporate...
..and their lives diminish.
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation