Asia

Taliban tortured Afghan teacher who ran secret school for girls

Herat officials blindfolded Basir Arian and broke his nose jaw and finger, underground classes survive on UNICEF tents and borrowed hope while donors negotiate with the regime that wields the rifle butts

Images

‘If you disobey this order, they will kill you’ … Basir Arian. Photograph: Mary Turner/The Guardian ‘If you disobey this order, they will kill you’ … Basir Arian. Photograph: Mary Turner/The Guardian theguardian.com
‘My dreams began because of my father’s belief in me’ … Arian aged 10. ‘My dreams began because of my father’s belief in me’ … Arian aged 10. theguardian.com
‘My parents were overjoyed when I got in’ … Arian before the national university entrance exam in 2013. ‘My parents were overjoyed when I got in’ … Arian before the national university entrance exam in 2013. theguardian.com
‘It was my therapy’ … Arian’s first day at the gym. ‘It was my therapy’ … Arian’s first day at the gym. theguardian.com
‘It felt like being in detention’ … the room in an asylum hotel where Arian slept. ‘It felt like being in detention’ … the room in an asylum hotel where Arian slept. theguardian.com

When Basir Arian's phone rang in May 2022, a Taliban official gave him 20 minutes to present himself at the intelligence directorate in Herat — and to bring his phone. Arian, who ran an online English study programme for Afghan girls after the Taliban banned them from school, told a friend where he was going and discussed what to do if he did not return.

At the compound, a senior official played a WhatsApp voice message in which Arian encouraged his students not to lose hope, accused him of being an apostate and a puppet of the West, and told a subordinate: "Let's teach him." Blindfolded with his hands tied in a basement room, Arian was beaten with a rifle butt and kicked until he lost consciousness. He came to lying in blood, with a broken finger, a broken nose and a broken jaw. "I knew that sooner or later, they would come for me," he says.

Arian was born in 1997 in rural Afghanistan near the Iranian border, where Soviet invasion and civil war had already scarred the landscape and landmines littered the countryside. His village's first school opened in 2003 — tents provided by UNICEF, along with the books, pencils and biscuits given at break. Every few weeks a schoolmate gathering firewood or a mother fetching water stepped on a mine and lost a limb, sometimes, in Arian's words, leaving "nothing left to save". His father, a tailor with a talent for maths and only a few years of schooling, wanted something better for his son. "My dreams began because of my father's belief in me," Arian says.

The torture convinced him he had to leave the country. Underground education for Afghan girls continues to operate, but its costs are now paid in person by those who teach it — while donors abroad negotiate principles with the regime.