“Jailed and tortured” Afghan LGBTs appeal for help

Peter Tatchell Foundation has circulated a press release saying the Taliban have “captured, jailed and likely tortured” two Afghan LGBTs, lesbian Maryam Ravish and trans woman Maeve Pieescu. According to the human rights organisation, they were arrested on 20 March 2025, as they tried to flee the country.

As yet uncorroborated information received by the Afghan LGBTQ+ group, Roshaniya, says they are believed to have been tortured to obtain the names of other LGBTQ+ Afghans and details about Roshaniya’s operations within Afghanistan.

Maeve, whose legal name is Abdul Ghafoor Sabery, is being held at the 40 Intelligence Directorate Prison of the Taliban, which is a notorious interrogation jail where inmates are ​tortured three times a day and ​only get to eat one nutritionally inadequate meal daily.

The prison conditions are dire: dirty drinking water; the cells are damp and so overcrowded that prisoners must take turns lying down to sleep.

The Taliban have shaved the head of trans woman, Maeve, and forced her to grow a beard to conform with their heterosexual patriarchal gender norms. She is also being forced to read and recite the Qu’ran for long periods every day.

The current location of Maryam is unknown. She may be detained in the women’s prison at Pul e-Charkhi but this is unconfirmed.

Both women are expected to face trial and sentencing soon.

Nemat Sadat, CEO of Roshaniya LGBT, said: “The Taliban are charging Maryam with the ‘crime’ of being a lesbian and Maeve faces three charges—human trafficking, being gay and trans and ​apostasy (rejecting Islam).​ These charges could result in many years of imprisonment, possibly the amputation of a limb or even execution. Maeve is at very high risk of receiving a death sentence. We appeal to governments and international human rights groups to put pressure on the Taliban to release and deport them to a western country,” he said.

Maryam, 19, and Maeve, 23, were set to escape Kabul on a Mahan Airlines flight to Iran with Mariam’s same-gender partner, Parwen Hussaini, aged 20, on 20 March 2025, with the aid of Roshaniya, the Afghan LGBTQ+ network. When Maryam and Maeve went to board the plane, they were detained by the Taliban’s intelligence unit who searched their phones and discovered LGBTQ+ content​.

Parwen got on the flight but is now stranded in Iran, with her visa due to expire in a month, and the risk that she’ll be deported back to Afghanistan and face a possible death sentence.

Nemat Sadat, added: “We appeal to governments and international human rights groups to help. Their lives are in danger. The Taliban may well seek to make an example of Maeve and Maryam – and Parwen if she is sent back to Kabul. Roshaniya LGBT is the face of what a peaceful and pluralistic Afghanistan looks like. That’s why I can’t understand why we aren’t receiving the support we need to get our heroes—Maeve and Maryam—released from prison, and to assist Parwen to get to an LGBT+ friendly country where she can permanently resettle.”

“Maeve Alcina Pieescu’s life needs to be spared. At a time when transgender people are under attack everywhere, her strength and resolve should inspire everyone. She showed the meaning of true friendship by risking her own freedom and life to help her lesbian friend, Maryam, escape Afghanistan. And then—after she was captured and interrogated—she stared at the Islamic zealots in the face and proudly told them that she refuses to be a Muslim and doesn’t believe in Islam.

“That’s the next level of courage that the rest of humanity can learn from. Maeve, Maryam and Parwen are a beacon of hope in the darkness that is present-day Afghanistan. They give me hope for the future and make me proud as a leader of the LGBTQ+ Afghan community,” added Sadat.