Expert Narratives

Suraia Perlika is an activist for human and women’s rights. She founded the Democratic Women’s Organization with five other women in 1965. In 1978, she was held as a political prisoner and tortured for her activities related to women’s rights.

Sediqullah Towhidi is the head of Nai [meaning: Flute], the leading non-government organization supporting open media in Afghanistan.

Khaleda Khorsand is a writer and human rights activist with the Civil Society and Human Rights Network in Herat

Farid Mazdak is a well-known left-wing political activist. He was the leader of the Democratic Youth Organization of Afghanistan in the early 1980s and a leadership member of the Vatan party in the late 1980s.

Aziza Khayrandish is a human rights activist and the director of the Civil Society and Human Rights Network in Herat

A well-known lawyer in Afghanistan, Mohammad Farid Hamidi is Deputy Director of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, where he has been a Commissioner for the past 11 years.

Dr. Habiba Sarabi is the first and only woman to be appointed a provincial governor in Afghanistan: she served as the Governor of Bamiyan province from 2005 until 2013.

Unveiling Afghanistan Campaign: Aman Pouyamak is a poet and a writer. He published a clandestine magazine, working in secret with Afghan women during the reign of the Taliban. After the Taliban’s departure, he established a literary society called Eshraq [Intuition].

Unveiling Afghanistan Campaign: Seyyedeh Mojgan Mostafavi is the Deputy Minister for Women’s Affairs, and a Professor in the School of Journalism at Kabul University.

Unveiling Afghanistan Campaign: Partaw Naderi is the one of the only Afghan poets whose work is widely translated into different languages. He writes frequently about democracy, human rights, particularly the rights of minorities, and the meaning of citizenship.