Two young LGBTQ+ activists, Maeve Alcina Pieescu and Maryam Ravish, were arrested by the Taliban in March while attempting to flee Afghanistan. Human rights groups now fear the women may face torture or even execution by stoning.
The arrests were confirmed by the Peter Tatchell Foundation, a UK-based human rights organisation, which issued a press release on 31 March highlighting the dire circumstances the women are facing. The pair were apprehended at Kabul airport on 20 March, as they prepared to board a flight to Iran alongside Ravish’s partner, 20-year-old Parwen Hussaini.
Nemat Sadat, the CEO of Afghan LGBT+ organisation Roshaniya, which is collaborating with the Peter Tatchell Foundation, said: “They are expected to be tortured to reveal the names of other LGBTs and sentenced to a long jail term or possibly executed.”
According to Sadat, the Taliban’s intelligence unit detained Pieescu, 23 and a transgender woman, and Ravish, 19, after discovering LGBTQ+ content on their phones. “Maeve and Maryam were beaten by the Taliban,” Sadat said.
Sadat also revealed that Ravish had previously been forced into a marriage by her family, and Pieescu had risked her life to help her escape. While Hussaini successfully boarded the flight and reached Iran, she later released a video expressing grave concerns for her safety. Since the arrests, both her and Ravish’s families have issued threats, and she claims Pieescu’s relatives have refused to cooperate with efforts to secure her release.
However, Pieescu’s sister in the United States, Susan Battaglia, expressed deep concern in a statement to the Peter Tatchell Foundation. “My family in Afghanistan is very anxious about Maeve being tortured and killed,” she said. “During the Taliban’s interrogation, Maeve confessed that she is not a Muslim and doesn’t believe in Islam. This is scary for our family since the penalty for apostasy — under Sharia law — is death. We ask from the world governments to demand that Maeve be released from prison and safely leave the country.”
Hussaini remains unsure of the condition or whereabouts of Pieescu and Ravish, stating it is possible they have been placed in solitary confinement and could face death by stoning — a punishment sanctioned under the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Sharia law.
Since reclaiming power in 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, the Taliban has reimposed severe restrictions, including the criminalisation of homosexuality and restrictions on women’s freedoms, such as requiring a male chaperone when leaving the house.
Reports of widespread abuse against LGBTQ+ individuals in Afghanistan have surged. In October 2023, the rights group Rainbow Afghanistan released an open letter outlining harrowing accounts of torture, forced marriages, sexual violence, and suicide within the community.
Hussaini described the current situation as an “existential” threat. “We ask human rights organisations and international LGBT+ organisations that work towards helping LGBT+ people to please work with us to pursue our freedom and save our loved ones from harm’s way,” she pleaded.
Echoing that call, Sadat urged prominent human rights bodies — including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ILGA Asia, Stonewall, OutRight International, Rainbow Railroad, and the Human Rights Campaign — to pressure the Taliban to free the two women. “Spread the word about the arrest of Mariam and Maeve,” he said, “and pressure the Taliban regime to release these two brave LGBT+ Afghan human rights defenders.”
