Wire report

‘Her face was beaten in’: how Taliban rule ushered in a new era of women being killed

An investigation into 231 femicide cases highlights the dire situation in Afghanistan, where men are empowered to murder and face no punishment while their crimes are covered up by the state In a voice message recorded weeks before she died, Liza Shams, 33, asks a relative to pray for her. “There’s no end to my days of misfortune,” she says. “Pray that God shames Hasib [her husband, Hasibullah Sarwari] in front of the whole world for what he has done to me.” In a second recording, she describes being beaten by Sarwari while pregnant, then kept isolated for days, injured to the point she couldn’t eat or speak. “I’m a woman, fine, I should not talk about what happens in my home,” she says. “But I can’t do this any more.” On the afternoon of 1 February, Liza’s neighbours heard screaming and alerted the police. A short while earlier, Liza’s father, Shamsuddin Shams, had received a video call

Source-feed image associated with ‘Her face was beaten in’: how Taliban rule ushered in a new era of women being killed
Source-feed image associated with the linked report: ‘Her face was beaten in’: how Taliban rule ushered in a new era of women being killed.Credit: The Guardian Source-feed thumbnail displayed with attribution and outbound source link; VINI does not claim ownership or republish the third-party article body. Image source Cached source-feed image shown for continuity with attribution and an outbound source link; VINI does not claim third-party image authorship or republish the third-party article body.
Reading time2 min

coverage / Wire report

Reader toolsFollow the reporting.

Get updates, read source context, send useful records, share the story, or support the reporting work from the reading page.

FollowGet story updatesBriefs and topic returnsContextOpen background1 public sourceContributeSend recordsDocuments, dates, photosSupportFund reportingReader-backed workShareCopy story URLvininews.com
Why it mattersGlobal

An investigation into 231 femicide cases highlights the dire situation in Afghanistan, where men are empowered to murder and face no punishment while their crimes are covered up by the state In a voice message recorded weeks before she died, Liza Shams, 33, asks a relative to pray for her. “There’s no end to my days of misfortune,” she says. “Pray that God shames Hasib [her husband, Hasibullah Sarwari] in front of the whole world for what he has done to me.” In a second recording, she describes being beaten by Sarwari while pregnant, then kept isolated for days, injured to the point she couldn’t eat or speak. “I’m a woman, fine, I should not talk about what happens in my home,” she says. “But I can’t do this any more.” On the afternoon of 1 February, Liza’s neighbours heard screaming and alerted the police. A short while earlier, Liza’s father, Shamsuddin Shams, had received a video call

What to know1 source

Check the original link, updates, and responses when a detail is contested.

Keep readingpublic-policy

Open topic or search related wording such as records, sources, agencies, dates, and locations.

What happened

According to The Guardian’s linked report, ‘Her face was beaten in’: how Taliban rule ushered in a new era of women being killed, An investigation into 231 femicide cases highlights the dire situation in Afghanistan, where men are empowered to murder and face no punishment while their crimes are covered up by the state In a voice message recorded weeks before she died, Liza Shams, 33, asks a relative to pray for her. “There’s no end to my days of misfortune,” she says. “Pray that God shames Hasib [her husband, Hasibullah Sarwari] in front of the whole world for what he has done to me.” In a second recording, she describes being beaten by Sarwari while pregnant, then kept isolated for days, injured to the point she couldn’t eat or speak. “I’m a woman, fine, I should not talk about what happens in my home,” she says. “But I can’t do this any more.” On the afternoon of 1 February, Liza’s neighbours heard screaming and alerted the police. A short while earlier, Liza’s father, Shamsuddin Shams, had received a video call

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Global coverage for readers following international affairs, institutions, conflict, diplomacy, economics, and cross-border consequences. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The linked report is dated 2026-08-07T04:00:08+00:00.

What to watch

Open questions include whether primary sources issue follow-up statements, whether local or market impacts become clearer, and whether additional reporting changes the timeline or adds material context.

Source

Primary source: ‘Her face was beaten in’: how Taliban rule ushered in a new era of women being killed via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

Keep following

This file can keep developing

vininews.com uses reader tips, public records, right-of-reply requests, corrections, and follow-up reporting to keep important stories current.

SubscribeGet the next updateSend recordsShare documents or leadsRespondRequest comment or replyDonateSupport reporting costs

Support and subscriptions never buy coverage, placement, suppression, or corrections.

This VINI report keeps the original publisher link available and does not republish third-party article bodies without rights clearance. 1 reference listed.

Source links

Reader comments

Moderated discussion

Account access

Comments are open to authenticated approved accounts, screened for spam and abuse, and published only after newsroom moderation unless editors change the story control.

Loading comments.

No approved comments yet.

Substantive, civil comments can be submitted by approved account holders.