Mahjabin Hakimi, a member of Afghanistan’s women’s youth volleyball squad, was reportedly executed by the Taliban in Kabul, the country’s capital, for opposing women’s sport.
Following Hakimi’s murder, the group is accused of posting photographs of her decapitated head on social media, possibly as a chilling message to others.
The death of the young girl has been the subject of conflicting stories.
Following the withdrawal of the US and its allies from the nation, a death certificate revealed she may have died a week before the Taliban took control.
According to some accounts, the young athlete committed suicide.
A leaked photo of her body revealed cuts on her neck, but it was unclear if they were caused by a blade or a ligature point.
The Payk Investigative Journalism Centre in Afghanistan, on the other hand, said its sources had confirmed that Mahjabin had been “beheaded by the Taliban in Kabul."
One of Hakimi’s instructors, commenting under a pseudonym to the Persian Independent, stated she was killed in early October but that it was kept a secret because her family had been threatened not to talk about it.
Since the Taliban surged back into power in August after the last Afghan government collapsed, dozens of female athletes have fled Afghanistan in fear of their lives.
Since assuming control, the Taliban have outlawed all female sports and have yet to allow girls to return to school for an education.
According to reports, only two members of the women’s youth volleyball team were able to flee Afghanistan.
“All the players of the volleyball team and the rest of the women athletes are in a bad situation and in despair and fear," the coach said, according to the Persian Independent.
“Everyone has been forced to flee and live in unknown places."
Before the Taliban took control of Kabul, Hakimi was a member of the Kabul Municipality Volleyball Club.
Arian Sadiqi, Afghanistan’s Chef de Mission for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, is concerned for the safety of 12 para athletes who remain trapped in the nation, and believes that those who did not flee when the Taliban took power have been forgotten.
“If these girls don’t get help soon, they may fall into the hands of the Taliban and may get killed," Sadiqi said, according to Insidethegames.
Noorja Najafi, Rahela Haidari, Nargis Masomi, and Benafsha Najafi have all requested assistance from European countries in evacuating them from Afghanistan.
“The right to education has been taken away from us," said Najafi in a video.
“We cannot go to university safely or study safely because we are disabled," Najafi continues in the video.
“Without wearing a hijab, we cannot walk or go out. We are very worried that our lives are in danger."
The women’s national volleyball team has made several requests to foreign organizations for assistance in getting them out of the country, but they have been unsuccessful thus far.
“Our players who were living in the provinces had to leave and live in other places," Zahra Fayazi, a coach for Afghanistan, told the BBC in September."
“They even burned their sports equipment to save themselves and their families. They didn’t want them to keep anything related to sport. They are scared."
“Many of our players who are from provinces were threatened many times by their relatives who are Taliban and Taliban followers.
“The Taliban asked our players’ families to not allow their girls to do sport, otherwise they will be faced with unexpected violence."
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