In an Afghan women's prison (15 photos)

Category: Interesting photo stories, Terrible, PEGI 0+

25 October 2010

Caution! The post contains shocking material. Make sure you really want to see it and you are over 18 years old.

According to the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs and the Independent Human Rights Commission, many of the women currently incarcerated in Afghan prisons are being held for “crimes against morality.” These so-called crimes include running away from home, not wanting to marry, marrying without family consent and attempted adultery. In the worst case scenario, women spend years serving time on murder charges that were actually committed by someone else. We have already published a report about children in Afghan prisons. Today we present to your attention photographs taken on October 22 in a small women’s prison in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

1. 20-year-old Fariha washes clothes in a women's prison in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. She is in prison for running away from home.

2. A female prisoner combs her hair after washing in the yard of a women's prison.

3. 40-year-old prisoner Maya Gul has been serving a sentence for three years on charges of murdering her stepson.

4. Prisoner Sara Gul, 26 years old, changes her baby's diapers in the women's prison in Mazar-i-Sharif. Sarah has been in prison for six months after running away from her husband's home.

5. A prisoner is hanging out laundry in the prison yard.

6. 20-year-old Fariha sweeps the yard in a women's prison.

7. 4-year-old Sakina (left) and 5-year-old Hujesta play in the courtyard of the women's prison in Mazar-i-Sharif, where they live with their mothers.

8. Children of female prisoners play together. Currently there are 38 women and 10 children in this small prison.

9. Akhsa Gul holds her 11-month-old son Said.

10. 23-year-old Avaz Khal (right), suffering from typhoid fever, lies on a drip in one of the cells of a women's prison.

11. Prisoners of the women's prison in Mazar-i-Sharif: 25-year-old Sugra and 23-year-old Shugufa.

12. Afghan women prisoners in the courtyard of the prison.

13. 19-year-old Jamila Shawal during a smoke break. She was jailed for five months on charges of immoral behavior after running away from her parents' house with her boyfriend.

14. Zukhra holds her five-month-old son Sahil. Zukhra was accused of murdering her husband and, if she is not acquitted, the woman will go to jail for at least five years.