Tamana Zaryab Paryani, a woman activist from Afghanistan who has been on a 12-day hunger in Germany, was moved to a hospital because her health condition deteriorated.
Medics came to Paryani’s help moments after she fainted on the ninth day of her strike, an Afghanistan International reporter, who was reporting live from the protest area in Cologne city, said an hour ago.
Zarmina Paryani, her sister and one of the protestors, posted this video on X:
The dissident hunger striker will remain in hospital to receive treatment, and it is unclear when she would be discharged.
Another hunger striker, identified as Nezam, was also reportedly moved to hospital due to worsening health.
On Sunday, Paryani said in a video that the health condition of her colleagues and herself is “not really good.”
These women activists are protesting the international community’s inaction regarding the Taliban’s treatment of women in Afghanistan which they demand to be recognized as “gender apartheid.”
Halt on financial support and official engagement with the Taliban authorities and the immediate release of political prisoners who remain in the group’s detention centers are their two other demands.
The hunger strike has also spurred support from many individuals and rights groups.
Women activists have also staged hunger strikes in Pakistan, Sweden, Norway, and the US to join the cause and many others attended the protest in Cologne in solidarity.
“In Afghanistan, the Taliban has deprived women of their basic human rights because of their gender,” Paryani told BBC Persian in an interview last week, adding that they have been subjected to torture, sexual abuse, killing, and discrimination by the Taliban.
“The international community is silent in the face of an ongoing gender apartheid in Afghanistan. We had no choice but to launch a hunger strike to call on the world to recognize it and take action against it.”
