Reports out of Afghanistan allege that the Taliban beheaded an Afghan volleyball player on the girls’ national team.
“Mahjabin Hakimi, one of the best players in the Kabul Municipality Volleyball Club, was slaughtered in the capital city of Kabul as troops searched for female sports players, her coach told the Persian Independent,” the New York Post reported, adding, “She was killed earlier this month, but her death remained mostly hidden because her family had been threatened not to talk, claimed the coach, using a pseudonym, Suraya Afzali, due to safety fears.”
Payk Media added, “Mahjabin Hakimi, a member of the Afghan women’s youth national volleyball team was ‘beheaded’ by the Taliban in #Kabul, sources confirmed, adding that except her family, no one knows the exact time of the incident.”
Mahjabin Hakimi, a member of the Afghan women's youth national volleyball team was "beheaded" by the Taliban in #Kabul, sources confirmed, adding that except her family, no one knows the exact time of the incident.
The Taliban have not yet commented. #Afghanistan #Paykmedia pic.twitter.com/TGtSIuhW8C
— Payk Media – Revealing the Truth (@PaykMedia) October 19, 2021
The coach told the Persian Independent, “All the players of the volleyball team and the rest of the women athletes are in a bad situation and in despair and fear. Everyone has been forced to flee and live in unknown places.”
Zahra Fayazi, a volleyball player who escaped to the United Kingdom, told the BBC in late September that one of the players had been killed, adding:
We don’t want this to repeat for our other players.
…
Our players who were living in the provinces had to leave and live in other places.
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They even burned their sports equipment to save themselves and their families. They didn’t want them to keep anything related to sport. They are scared. Many of our players who are from provinces were threatened many times by their relatives who are Taliban and Taliban followers. The Taliban asked our players’ families to not allow their girls to do sport, otherwise they will be faced with unexpected violence.
Another player who escaped said that she was sure the Taliban had murdered her teammate, saying, “maybe we will lose other friends.”
“The Italian volleyball federation today announced that all of its leagues would observe a minute’s silence for [Hakimi] before their games this weekend. The tribute was decided by federation chief Giuseppe Manfredi after a discussion with the Italian Olympic Committee,” the Daily Mail reported on Thursday, adding, “Australia has also evacuated more than 50 female Afghan athletes and their dependents after lobbying by prominent figures from the sporting world while several players from Afghanistan’s national female youth soccer squad were granted asylum in Portugal.”
On October 11, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres complained about the Taliban, whining to reporters, “I am particularly alarmed to see promises made to Afghan women and girls by the Taliban being broken.”
“I strongly appeal to the Taliban to keep their promises to women and girls and fulfill their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.”
“Broken promises lead to broken dreams for the women and girls of Afghanistan,” Guterres said.
“Eighty percent of Afghanistan’s economy is informal, with a preponderant role of women. Without them, there is no way the Afghan economy and society will recover.”
Social media blasted Guterres for his naivete.