Gender Apartheid
A brave girl from Afghanistan spray paints #LetHerLearn on a wall to spread a powerful message of resistance against the Taliban’s oppressive ban on girls’ education.
During the recent webinar “Afghan women and youth under the Taliban: voices of resistance”, two young women talked about how the Afghan Government severely restricts the freedoms of more than 20 million women in a highly oppressive system of gender based domination.
These are just some of the restrictions:
- travelling without a male escort is forbidden;
- studying in secondary and tertiary education is not permitted;
- speaking outdoors is not allowed.
- barred from most forms of paid employment, public parks and gyms
- adherence to a strict dress code
- women may not study midwifery.
- visas are not granted even if a woman has succeeded in gaining a place at a foreign university
A law recently passed states that a man may beat his wife as long as no bones are broken.
The young women spoke of their work around resisting these restrictions and emphasised how important it was that the young boys and men who will grow up to father the next generation of women do not learn to normalise this repression of women’s rights.
Please consider clicking on the link below to find out more and to sign an open letter urging countries to recognise gender apartheid
Campaign to End Gender Apartheid – https://endgenderapartheid.today/index.php
Free Oqba
You will remember Oqba Hashid from our 2024 Write for Rights campaign.
He is still in prison having been arbitrarily detained now for 6 years, 9 months without trial, solely due to his brother’s human rights activism. He was arrested at his student residence at the University of Sadat City with a number of other students all of whom were released shortly afterwards. Oqba however was forcibly disappeared for 77 days during which time he was tortured. He is now being held in 10th of Ramadan Prison, where authorities are cruelly denying him his prosthetic leg, which he needs to walk unassisted as his right leg has been amputated above the knee since his childhood. His mobility is also impaired due to severe back pain and his mental and physical health are deteriorating.
Oqba has spent most of his twenties in prison, years that he could have been spending completing his education, pursuing a career and perhaps having a family.
Please write a letter asking for Oqba’s immediate and unconditional release and for all charges against him to be dropped, as he is being detained solely as a punishment due to his brother’s activism. Pending his release, he should be granted a suitable prosthetic leg as well as access to his family, lawyers, and adequate healthcare. He should also be held in conditions that comply with international standards for the treatment of prisoners.
Letters should be addressed to
His Excellency Ashraf Swelam,
Egyptian Embassy,
26, South St,
London W1K 1DW
Gezi Prisoners
We have been following the plight of the Gezi prisoners over the past few months and we have news now that one of the prisoners, Tayfun Kahraman, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis some time ago was hospitalized following a serious deterioration in his condition. He has been in Silivri Prison since April 25, 2022, due to the unfair conviction and 18-year prison sentence that he received in the Gezi Trial. Despite the Constitutional Court’s ruling on rights violations and the decision for a retrial, he still has not been released, and his health condition is deteriorating the longer he remains in prison.
Our group have sent him some messages of support in the past few months.
Amnesty Türkiye are now requesting activists to show their support for Tayfun by writing a message of solidarity using the following link that they have provided on the section’s X (Twitter) account. If you are an X user, please click on the link to send your message.
Some good news………!
Human Rights defender Enes Hocaoğulları had been placed in arbitrary pre-trial detention after being detained at Ankara Esenboğa Airport upon his return to Türkiye, due to comments he made in March during a speech at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. He was released from prison at the first hearing of his prosecution on 8 September 2025 but still faced charges. Taunton Amnesty completed an urgent action for him a few months ago and on February 23rd we heard from Amnesty Türkiye that Enes had been acquitted. He presented a very strong defence and described the physical, sexual, and psychological violence he was subjected to in prison.
Amnesty International Taunton Local Group 