Afghan women activists living in Cologne have started a hunger strike to protest the “gender apartheid” imposed by the Taliban in their country, one of the participants told AFP.

“Today, Afghan women do not have (access to) school, university, car, restaurant, everything is forbidden,” said Zarmina Pariani.

The activist fled to Germany last year with her four sisters after they were previously arrested by the Taliban for protesting in Afghanistan. One of her sisters, Tamana Pariani, is also participating in the 12-day hunger strike.

Of the 16 women who started the hunger strike a few days ago, today only three were continuing, Zarmina said. The Afghan activist posted on the platform X (formerly Twitter) the photo with a banner, on which was written the phrase: “Afghanistan must be recognized as a country where there is gender apartheid.”

“Every day, the Taliban arrests, tortures and kills political activists and human rights defenders (…) but the world is silent,” he said.

Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed a strict version of Islamic law and severely curtailed the freedom of women, a situation the United Nations has described as “gender apartheid”. Women and young girls are not allowed to attend high school and university or even go for a walk in the park. Most are no longer allowed to work in UN agencies or non-governmental organizations, and thousands have been fired from their government jobs or are being paid to stay at home.