In 1999, a crowd of 30,000 spectators watched in Kabul's Olympic Stadium as Zarmina, a 35-year-old mother of seven, was led to the penalty area and shot in the head. The horrifying event, captured secretly by activists, became a symbol of the brutal rule of the Taliban, who had accused her of murdering her abusive police officer husband.
Footage of the execution, smuggled out by The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), showed Zarmina being forced to her knees before a man, believed to be her brother-in-law, shot her with a Kalashnikov rifle. Activists hoped the footage would expose the atrocities women endured under the Taliban.
Zarmina's ordeal began after years of domestic violence from her husband, Alauddin Khwazak, who had become increasingly jealous and abusive. According to a neighbor, Khwazak transformed from a mild man into a "monster" due to the region's civil war and his own fundamentalist beliefs, exacerbated by his brother. The abuse reportedly extended to Zarmina's elder daughters, Najeba, 16, and Shaista, 14.
Desperate to end the suffering, Zarmina allegedly plotted with Najeba to poison her husband. However, accounts suggest Zarmina hesitated to deliver the fatal blow, and Najeba ultimately killed him with a hammer. They claimed robbers had attacked their home, but suspicion from Khwazak's brother led to their arrest by the Taliban. Zarmina was subjected to severe beatings for two days until she confessed, stating she acted alone to protect her children.
After three years of imprisonment and torture, during which she had limited access to her young twins, Zarmina confessed Najeba's role in the killing. Consequently, Zarmina's daughters, Najeba and Shaista, along with their younger brother Hawad, were given to Khwazak's brother, a common practice under the Taliban. The girls were reportedly sold into sex slavery. The delay in Zarmina's execution, typically swift, was attributed to negotiations over the daughters' sale.
On November 16, 1999, Zarmina was brought to the stadium. She had put on multiple dresses under her burqa, possibly to cushion expected lashings. Paraded twice around the stadium in a Toyota pickup truck to the cries of the crowd, which included her own children, Zarmina prayed. Despite some pleas for mercy from spectators, including Khwazak's family, the Taliban proceeded with the execution. The first shot by the executioner missed, reportedly unnerved by the pleas. Zarmina attempted to flee but was guided back to the penalty spot before being shot. Her body lay unclaimed for 20 days before being buried in an unmarked grave.
Renewed Concerns
Nearly three decades later, and following the U.S. withdrawal in 2021 and the Taliban's return to power, human rights organizations express concern that similar atrocities may be occurring, though often in private due to strict censorship. Shaharzad Akbar, from the Afghan human rights organization Rawadari, noted a documented pattern of increasing restrictions on women's rights and freedoms, often brutally enforced. Her organization has received reports of stoning and other severe punishments taking place away from public view.
"The added danger with this period of Taliban’s rule is their increased surveillance capacity that makes it harder to document human rights violations," Akbar stated. She also highlighted new draconian rules, including a law passed earlier this year that effectively legalizes husbands beating their wives if no serious bodily harm occurs. Women have been barred from secondary and university education, face employment limitations, and are forbidden from speaking in public. Child marriage has also been legalized with male relative consent.
While no recent executions of women are publicly known, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented 12 judicially sanctioned executions since 2021. Activists fear that even if such acts occur, the world may not be aware, mirroring the hidden nature of many abuses today. The story of Zarmina, though from 1999, serves as a stark reminder of the potential for extreme violence against women under Taliban rule.