“I feel like I’m standing in the middle of a bridge,” says Hussain Zada, who will graduate next month. “Behind me is a country where I can’t build a future. Ahead of me are opportunities that keep getting further away.” rukhshana.com/en/one-afgha...
Zahra Joya
@zahrajoya.bsky.social
Journalist| founder of Rukhshana media| https://rukhshana.com/en| views are my own.
New Book !! 📘📖 Delighted to finally get my hands on a copy of this much anticipated read by @zahrajoya.bsky.social ‘The Vanishing Girl Of Kabul Betrayal, Hope and an Extraordinary Fight for Women’s Rights’ Make sure you get your copy. It’s going to be an important read 🙏💙
Behind every door, a story of pain: One of Afghanistan’s few female doctors reflects on her work rukhshana.com/en/behind-ev...
Behind every door, a story of pain: One of Afghanistan’s few female doctors reflects on her work - Rukhshana Media
most of her patients have chronic conditions that could have been treated successfully if they had been caught much earlier.
rukhshana.com
The Taliban have barred women entrepreneurs from selling their handicrafts and other artisanal products at a big trade fair in the eastern Afghanistan in Jalalabad city, according to visitors attending the exhibition. rukhshana.com/en/taliban-b...
Taliban bar women from selling their handicrafts at major expo - Rukhshana Media
The Taliban have barred women entrepreneurs from selling their handicrafts and other artisanal products at a big trade fair in the eastern Afghanistan in Jalalabad city, according to visitors attendin...
rukhshana.com
One spring day Mah Bibi’s three youngest sons were playing with an unusual object they had found in the ground when it exploded, killing them outright along with three friends. rukhshana.com/en/grieving-...
Mother appeals for release of girl jailed for refusing to wed Taliban ally rukhshana.com/en/mother-ap...
Mother appeals for release of girl jailed for refusing to wed Taliban ally - Rukhshana Media
The family of an Afghan teenager jailed by the Taliban for five years after refusing to marry an influential tribal figure in his 70s have appealed to the group’s supreme leader for help to secure her...
rukhshana.com
When Hadia* and her small daughters boarded a boat off the Turkish coast, she hoped to give them a better future in Europe – far from the harsh restrictions of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. rukhshana.com/en/terror-at...
Terror at sea: Afghan mother risks life for daughters’ future - Rukhshana Media
“We were all terrified, the children were screaming, the adults were crying,” Hadia told Rukhshana Media.
rukhshana.com
A woman’s hijab must cover her entire body, must not attract attention, must be a loose fit to hide the shape of her body, and must not be decorated or scented with perfume. It should also not resemble the clothing of men or non-Muslims.
Rukhshana Media@rukhshanamedia.bsky.social · 2mo agoAfghanistan’s Taliban leaders have published new rules on women’s hijab, stating that it must be made of thick material, non-decorative and unperfumed. rukhshana.com/en/taliban-i...
Taliban forces fire on crowds in Herat, who were protesting at manhandling of women arrested over hijab dress code. rukhshana.com/en/two-kille...
Two killed in rare street demonstration over women’s rights in Afghanistan - Rukhshana Media
Taliban forces fire on crowds in Herat, who were protesting at manhandling of women arrested over hijab dress code.
rukhshana.com
At least one person died and another two were hospitalised in Afghanistan's Herat province on Tuesday after Taliban forces opened fire on protestors demonstrating against the detention of dozens of women and girls over the way they were dressed, according to local sources.
We spoke to two women who’ve experienced this at first hand, one the mother of a teenage girl committed to a marriage she does not want, the other a women seeking to divorce her abusive husband. rukhshana.com/en/a-jailed-...
🗣️ #WPSWednesday: “Instead of ensuring security & justice, the Taliban are occupied with issuing shameful misogynistic decrees & suppressing human freedoms.” @zahrajoya.bsky.social, Guardian & @rukhshanamedia.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Taliban ‘legitimising child marriage’ with new law, activists warn
Up to 70% of girls may be in early or forced marriages but law now makes divorce impossible if husbands disagree
theguardian.com
Video posted on Instagram showed the organisers of her expedition speaking to a jubilant Ahmad on the phone from the summit. “Please call my mum!” she is heard shouting down the phone.
Rukhshana Media@rukhshanamedia.bsky.social · 2mo agoA 31-year-old mountaineer who campaigns for women’s education has become the first Afghan woman to climb Mount Everest, according to climb organisers and her family. rukhshana.com/en/zakiya-ah...
Reporting on Afghanistan has become incredibly difficult, but journalists need to urgently find ways to cover the Taliban’s campaign to erase the country’s women. rukhshana.com/en/internati...
Sign up for Rukhshana Media's monthly newsletter! Each month, you'll get all the latest coverage from our team of female reporters in Afghanistan and expert analysis from Editor-in-Chief Zahra Joya. Don’t miss it - sign up now: rukhshana.com/en/register/
Representatives of the Taliban in Herat met with YouTube channel managers on March 31 and told them women were banned from appearing in their shows, according to a well-informed source who spoke on condition of anonymity. rukhshana.com/en/taliban-y...
Taliban YouTube ban silences Afghan women actors - Rukhshana Media
Representatives of the Taliban in Herat met with YouTube channel managers on March 31 and told them women were banned from appearing
rukhshana.com
🔴 Reporting during gender apartheid in Afghanistan #ijf26 with @alexcrawfreports.bsky.social @amiefr.bsky.social @zahrajoya.bsky.social @meeraselva.bsky.social 🎥 Live & On Demand > www.journalismfestival.com/programme/20...
Conquering the streets’ – how one young Afghan woman keeps her Olympic cycling dream alive
Rukhshana Media@rukhshanamedia.bsky.social · 4mo agoAfter darkness falls, when the market closes and the crowds thin out, Sodaba puts on her brother’s clothes, takes her bicycle, and rides through the back alleys of her neighbourhood – away from the eyes of the Taliban. rukhshana.com/en/conquerin...
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, said recently there were more than 20,000 religious schools operating across the country, providing religious instruction to more than two million people. Read more: rukhshana.com/en/how-a-pro...
Sabera is driven on by the memory of her father, who was killed by Taliban insurgents before the group returned to power in 2021. After his death, she said, she vowed not to remain silent in the face of the men who had taken him from her. Read more: rukhshana.com/en/silence-i...
Deeply grateful for your continued support and encouragement. Thank you to the wonderful team at the Thomson Foundation! ❤️ Happy International Women’s Day to all the amazing members of your team.
Thomson Foundation@thomsonfoundation.bsky.social · 5mo ago🖋️ Behind every story is a voice longing to be heard. This International Women's Day, we spotlight the courageous work of @rukhshanamedia.bsky.social and its founder, @zahrajoya.bsky.social, who defy threats to tell Afghan women's stories.
@zahrajoya.bsky.social told the APPG that ‘the system of gender apartheid in #Afghanistan’ means that ‘being a woman has become a structural crime’. She called on the #UK Government to hold the #Taliban accountable: ‘in this chaotic moment, we should not turn a blind eye to these issues’.
Golshah*, a 53-year-old single mother of five from Sar-e Pol province, told Rukhshana she sold all her jewellery and mortgaged her land so she could send her adult daughter to Iran to continue her studies in law.
Rukhshana Media@rukhshanamedia.bsky.social · 5mo agoRukhshana Media has spoken to around a dozen families about the sacrifices they have made to keep their girls in education since the ban was implemented more than four years ago. Read more: rukhshana.com/en/my-daught...
Annalena Baerbock, President of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, warned against a policy of tolerance towards the Taliban’s violations of the rights of women and girls while speaking at the 61st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
In the ancient citadel that towers over the historic Afghan city of Herat, a group of women sits at a table, paintbrushes in hand and heavy in concentration. rukhshana.com/en/how-afgha...
How Afghan women are helping to keep a centuries-old artistic tradition alive - Rukhshana Media
In the ancient citadel that towers over the historic Afghan city of Herat, a group of women sits at a table, paintbrushes in hand and heavy in concentration.
rukhshana.com
The secret Afghan women’s book club defying the Taliban to read Orwell
The secret Afghan women’s book club defying the Taliban to read Orwell
Banned from education, a clandestine reading circle meets every week to pour over novels by Abbas Maroufi, Zoya Pirzad and Ernest Hemingway
theguardian.com
They read not for entertainment but, as they put it, to understand life and the world around them. They call their group “women with books and imagination”. Read more: rukhshana.com/en/with-book...
Every winter, they risk being cut off by deep snow and unable to access the city for crucial medical services, trade and other essentials. Read more:https://rukhshana.com/en/digging-for-development-how-hazara-women-are-helping-to-build-a-road-for-their-community/
Residents say that around a third of the 300 people who have worked on the project to connect the central provinces of Daikundi, Uruzgan and Ghazni to the capital, Kabul, were women.
This morning we heard powerful testimonies from human rights defenders Rahima Mahmut, @zahrajoya.bsky.social and Olga Borisova on why end-to-end encryption is essential for safe, private communication. The UK government’s push for backdoors would put lives at risk. Their stories show why.
