A young girl was recently publicly flogged in Jaghori District of Ghazni province after a local cleric ordered the punishment based on allegations of her having sexual relations with a boy out of wedlock. Since then, the girl's father, Iqbal Masoomi, has demanded things be made right.
The young girl's named was Sabira, and according to her father, she was psychologically traumatized by the harsh public punishment. Reportedly, the young boy she was accused of having improper relations with was only asked to pay a fine.
"The allegations against Sabira are completely baseless," the father claimed. "She was whipped in public and the boy was freed by paying a fine and now she is suffering from psychological damage and won't leave the house...I want her honor and dignity to be restored," Masoomi said.
Having sexual relations out of wedlock is not against civil law in Afghanistan, but it is against locally practiced Islamic law, which is implemented by religious courts and adjudicators such as clerics.
Public punishments such as flogging, stoning or even executions were a staple of the brutal Taliban regime that was ousted by the U.S.-led coalition in 2001.
Although the state of women's rights and their broader quality of life in Afghanistan has dramatically improved since the fall of the Taliban, many issue remain, highlighted by the fact that 2013 has seen a jump in rates of violence against women.
Monday November 25 is, in fact, International Day For The Elimination of Violence Against Women. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) released a report today that claimed rates of human rights violations against women had jumped 25 percent this year.
Different issues are often pointed to as the root of the problems facing women in Afghanistan, from lack of education to lack of awareness. But increasingly, activists have called for more legal measures to be taken in order to protect women's rights.
"One of the important factors behind the increase of violence against women is the non-implementation of the law and also the open borders in the southern and eastern parts of the country because those involved cross the borders and flee the country and after some while they come back," Deputy Minister of Woman Affairs Muzhgan Mustafavi said.
Many women's advocates - both Afghan and foreign based - have criticized the National Assembly for failing to finalize the Elimination of Violence Against Women Law. With such national legislation in place, they argue it would be much easier to force local officials to protect women's rights.