Volleyball player reportedly beheaded by Taliban
Warning: This story contains graphic content which may distress some readers.
A rising volleyball star has been killed by the Taliban, with images of her head shared on social media, according to a report.
Mahjabin Hakimi, a member of the Kabul Municipality Volleyball Club, was beheaded by members of the organisation earlier this month, according to claims her coach made in an interview with The Persian Independent.
Several conflicting claims have been circulating on social media regarding her death, with reports claiming Mahjabin was killed a week before the Taliban seized Kabul.
A death certificate purportedly showed her date of death as mid-August.
Other claims said she had committed suicide.
A photo purportedly of her body showed she had an injury to her neck, but it is unclear whether it was caused by a blade or a ligature.
However, the Payk Investigative Journalism Centre, based in Afghanistan, said its sources confirmed Mahjabin “was beheaded by the Taliban in Kabul”.
Image: Twitter
Mahjabin’s coach said her death was only being reported now because the Taliban had threatened her family to remain silent about what happened to her.
After the image emerged online, the coach decided that she needed to speak out.
“All the players of the volleyball team and the rest of the women athletes are in a bad situation and in despair and fear,” she said.
“Everyone has been forced to flee and live in unknown places.”
The coach said only two members of the Kabul team managed to flee the country before the Taliban seized power at the end of August, with the rest now in hiding.
The Italian Volleyball Federation announced on Friday that all of its leagues would observe a minute of silence for Mahjabin prior to their games on the weekend.
“It seems impossible that in 2021 someone will be killed just because they play volleyball or, even worse, because they want to chase their dreams,” the federation said in a statement.
“Instead it is a horrendous reality. The whole great volleyball community is in mourning today.
“Mahjabin, wherever you are, we like to think of you with a ball in your hand, finally free to play volleyball.”
The devastating news comes as athletes have continued to be evacuated from the country.
FIFA, the governing body of football, negotiated the evacuation of 57 soccer and basketball players on Thursday, with most being women and children.
The organisation also said it worked with the Qatari government to evacuate almost 100 football players and their families, and assisted cycling body UCI with the evacuation of 165 refugees via Albania.
50 female Afghan athletes and their dependents have been evacuated by Australia after lobbying from prominent sporting figures, while several of Afghanistan’s national female youth soccer players were granted asylum in Portugal.
Despite making vague promises that their attitudes towards women had changed, the Taliban banned girls from returning to secondary school.
Zahra Fayazi, a member of the senior volleyball team who fled to the UK, previously told the BBC that female players were threatened and destroyed their sporting equipment out of fear.
“Many of our players who are from provinces were threatened many times by their relatives who are Taliban and Taliban followers,” she said.
“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.
“The Taliban asked our players’ families to not allow their girls to do sport, otherwise they will be faced with unexpected violence.”
The Taliban also replaced the government’s women ministry with an all-male “vice and virtue” department.
No women have been included in the new government
Image: Twitter