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France evacuates five Afghan women 'threatened by Taliban' to Paris
France flew five Afghan women who had been "threatened by the Taliban"
from Pakistan to Paris, where they were due to arrive on Monday,
French immigration authority chief Didier Leschi told AFP.
Issued on: 04/09/2023 - 07:41; 1 min
By: NEWS WIRES
By presidential order, "special attention is being paid to women who are primarily threatened by the Taliban because they have held important positions in Afghan society... or have close contacts with Westerners. This is the case for five women who will arrive today," Leschi said.
The women include a former university director, an ex-NGO consultant, a former television presenter, and a teacher at a secret school in Kabul.
Intelligent women are in particular danger in Afghanistan. Taliban men hate women who are more intelligent than them.
One of the women was accompanied by three children.
The women had been unable to leave Afghanistan on airlifts to Western countries when the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
They fled to neighbouring Pakistan where they sought temporary refuge. From there, the French authorities organised their evacuation, Leschi said.
Once they arrive in France, they will be registered as asylum seekers and given housing while their applications for refugee status are considered, Leschi said.
He also said that such evacuations were "likely to be repeated" for other Afghan women with a similar profile.
(AFP)
Iran sentences two more women journalists to jail time
as anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death nears
Two female Iranian journalists will spend around a month behind bars
as part of a three-year partly suspended prison sentence for
"conspiracy and "collusion", local media reported on Sunday.
Issued on: 03/09/2023 - 11:11; 1 min
By: NEWS WIRES
An October 2022 edition of the Ham Mihan newspaper (centre) reporting on the detention of journalist Elahe Mohammadi, whose sister Elnaz has also been sentenced to jail time. © Atta Kenare, AFP
Under the sentence, Negin Bagheri and Elnaz Mohammadi will serve one-fortieth of the term, or less than a month, in prison, their lawyer Amir Raisian told the reformist Ham Mihan daily newspaper, where Mohammadi works.
"The remaining period is suspended over five years," during which time they will be required to take "a professional ethics training" and "prohibited from leaving the country," the lawyer added.
Raisian did not elaborate on whether the verdict can be appealed, and the report did not detail the allegations against the reporters.
Mohammadi's sister, Elahe, who also works for Ham Mihan, has since September 2022 been in prison after reporting on the funeral of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died in police custody.
The death on September 16, 2022 of Amini, an Iranian Kurd, came after her arrest for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic's dress code, triggering months-long nationwide protests.
Foreign-based rights groups have reported multiple arrests ahead of the anniversary of Amini's death.
Bagheri works for the unaffiliated Haft-e Sobh newspaper.
Elnaz Mohammadi was arrested and kept in Evin prison for a week in February. The reason for her detention was not clear.
Last year's demonstrations saw hundreds of people killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands arrested in connection with what officials labelled as foreign-instigated "riots".
Seven men have been executed in protest-related cases involving killings and other violence against security forces.
Local media reported last month that authorities in Iran have questioned or arrested more than 90 journalists since the protests.
On Wednesday, an Iranian news agency reported that journalist Nazila Maroufian, who defied Iran's strict dress code and was freed on bail earlier in August, has been rearrested for not wearing the headscarf in public.
(AFP)
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