Women’s Rights Activist Killed in Afghanistan

January 3, 2021 CATALYST Team

Freshta Kohistani, a prominent women’s rights activist, was shot dead on Dec. 24, along with her brother. Her death is the latest in a string of assassinations of Afghan political activists and journalists.

Instagram photo of Freshta Kohistani from Nov. 30. Fresta.kohistani.

Afghan women's rights activist and former provincial council member Freshta Kohistani and her brother were shot and killed by unknown gunmen on motorbikes on Dec. 24, in their hometown in the Kohistan district of Kapisa province. Kohistani was 29 and a well-known activist. She used social media to raise awareness of violence against women in Afghanistan, led many protests advocating for women’s rights, and campaigned for Abdullah Abdullah in the 2019 presidential election.

The shooting of Kohistani and her brother was not an isolated incident. A number of prominent Afghan activists have been targeted in recent weeks. Kohistani’s death came just a day after the murder of pro-democracy advocate Mohammad Yousuf Rasheed, who led an independent election monitoring organization, in a shooting in Kabul. The day before Rasheed’s death, the head of the Ghazni Journalists’ Union was shot by assailants on motorbikes. On Dec. 20, a member of parliament was targeted by a car bomb. No group has claimed credit for any of the attacks thus far.

Prior to her death, Kohistani was vocal in her criticism of the assassination of journalists and political activists in Afghanistan. In November, she tweeted: “Afghanistan is not a place to live in. There is no hope for peace. Tell the tailor to take your measurement [for a funeral shroud], tomorrow it could be your turn.” Kohistani revealed that she had received threats and had asked for protection from the authorities, and on Dec. 11, not long before her assassination, Kohistani posted on Facebook asking officials to take her pleas for protection seriously.

The recent assassinations in Afghanistan come amid peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, which have been going on for over three months. Abdullah, who Kohistani campaigned for when he served as the chief executive of Afghanistan, now heads the High Council for National Reconciliation, a key body in the current peace negotiations with the Taliban. In early December, the peace talks were suspended until January, and there is worry that the talks will be suspended further after the recent string of assassinations by unknown assailants.

Following Kohistani’s death, Abdullah spoke out against the assassination of political activists in a Facebook post, writing that “the continuation of such asssassinations is unacceptable.” In the same post, he described Kohistani as “brave and fearless” for her work as a political and women’s rights activist.

On Georgetown University’s Women, Peace and Security Index, which ranks 167 countries on women’s equality based on data about women’s well-being and empowerment, Afghanistan ranks 166, with only Syria being a worse country for women. The country has also become increasingly dangerous for journalists, with at least five journalists having been killed since August.