It was the early hours of the morning when a guard entered Sohrab’s cell – a small, dark room with a barred window and a blanket on the floor – in Kabul’s sprawling Pul-e-Charkhi prison last August. The 19-year-old was escorted to another room in the complex, where he heard a Taliban member order the prison guards to leave and stop anyone else from entering. Panic set in, for Sohrab knew what these words often preceded. He had experienced physical violence at the hands of the Taliban before. “He grabbed me from behind, tore my clothes apart and raped me,” Sohrab – whose name has been changed for security reasons – told CNN in October. “For several days after that I had severe pain and bleeding.”

Sohrab was being detained at Pul-e-Charkhi on the charge of sodomy, after family members found out about his and his boyfriend’s clandestine romance last year, he said. News of their relationship had spread through their tight-knit community, leading to his arrest and forced confession.

Sohrab spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity, following his release from prison after two months. On his release, Sohrab said the Taliban warned that if he was arrested again, he would face execution. Human rights monitors have told CNN that since 2021, when the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, LGBTQ citizens have faced widespread sexual and physical violence in detention amid a systematic clampdown on minority groups. CNN has spoken to five LGBTQ Afghans who say they experienced physical abuse during time in detention, including – for some – repeated rape, electrocution, strangulation and flogging with metal chains. Transgender and gender non-conforming people are being “consistently” targeted at Taliban checkpoints due to their choice of clothing, human rights groups said.

In response to CNN’s findings, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “acts such as sodomy, bestiality and other perversions that contravene Islamic law are illegal and perpetrators dealt with within the legal framework.” They added: “These allegations are fabrications as the alleged claims of torture, rape, persecution and mistreatment are themselves explicit violations of the legal framework.” (CNN)

JAMAICA – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith is heading a Jamaican delegation to the second summit of CARICOM leaders and India. The CARICOM-India Summit is being co-chaired by Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada and current Chair of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government, and India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in Georgetown, Guyana, on Wednesday. Johnson Smith said Jamaica looks forward to focusing on shared priorities including energy and infrastructure, agriculture and food security, health and pharmaceuticals, technology and innovation, as well as human resources and capacity-building.

“Having recently participated in Prime Minister Holness’ historic visit to India, the first bilateral visit made by a Jamaican Prime Minister to that country, we look forward to strengthening ties even further through wider regional engagement,” added Johnson Smith. She further notes that strengthening people-to-people connections between India and the CARICOM region would also be a central point of interest, given the close to 190 years of integration of Indians across the region. (Jamaica-Gleiner)

Photo: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kamina Johnson Smith.

FRANCE – Gisele Pelicot on Tuesday lambasted the cowardice of the dozens of men accused of abusing her during 10 years of mass rape organized by her husband and told the court hearing the trial France’s patriarchal society must change. Dominique Pelicot, her husband, has admitted in court to drugging his wife, 71, and inviting strangers to their house to rape her while she was unconscious. Most of the 50 other men on trial have denied rape.

She only learnt of her ordeal when police stumbled upon videos and pictures her husband recorded of the abuse he is accused of orchestrating. “For me this is the trial of cowardice, there is no other way to describe it,” Gisele Pelicot said, with many of the accused in the courtroom. It is the third time she has addressed the court in Avignon, southern France, as the trial heads towards delivering its verdicts and sentences around Dec. 20.

Testimony that dozens of seemingly ordinary men, aged 26 to 74 and from all walks of life, could have raped an unconscious woman has attracted worldwide attention and turned the trial into an examination of the pervasiveness of sexual violence.

Video recorded by her husband and shown in court over the past weeks have repeatedly featured Gisele Pelicot motionless, sometimes snoring, while some of the accused abused her. Many of the accused have told the court they did not realize they were raping her, did not intend to rape her or put all the blame on her husband, whom they said had manipulated them. (CNN)

Photo: Gisele Pelicot at the courthouse in Avignon on Tuesday. (Reuters)

JAMAICA – Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding, is calling for the Government to immediately address the systemic issues in the tourism industry that have led to a series of strikes over the past weeks. On Monday line staff at Excellence Oyster Bay Resort in Coopers Pen, Trelawny, walked off the job protesting low wages, lack of overtime pay and lack of job security. Their strike followed others at Royalton Negril and Iberostar and Breathless resorts in St James.

Golding asserted in a media release on Tuesday that the ongoing unrest in the tourism sector is a direct result of poor governance. “For too long, the Minister of Tourism has neglected the critical needs of the local industry. The high cost of living, inadequate transportation and poor road conditions have placed tremendous pressure on hotel operators and workers, bringing the situation to a boiling point,” he said.

“It is disrespectful to the serious concerns of tourism workers to suggest that they are being politically manipulated when they take action to have their grievances addressed. Instead of the Prime Minister seeking to ‘pass the buck’ by blaming the People’s National Party for current unrest in the sector, he should take responsibility for failing to address these issues in the sector over the past nine years,” he added.

Golding reiterated his call for the Government to establish a Joint Council as a robust mechanism for constructive dialogue to protect the rights of tourism workers and uphold the Decent Work Agenda of the International Labour Organization. He is also calling for a comprehensive analysis of the industry as a matter of urgency, and a cohesive response from the ministries of labour, tourism and transport to address the challenges facing the sector. (Jamaica-Gleaner)

Photo: Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding.