Zahra, Afghan women are now thinking of suicide

She managed to escape from Kabul thanks to the Italian airlift, after hiding for three days from the searches of the Taliban.

Now she is safe, but

, a 32-year-old Afghan activist and entrepreneur, is not at peace with the fate of her compatriots, 16 million women left in Afghanistan and now distressed by the restrictions announced by the new regime.

The Ischia International Journalism Award awards her recognition for her commitment to the cause of human rights, and she takes the opportunity to launch yet another dramatic appeal: "For the women of Afghanistan engaged in the struggle for civil rights, the worst thing now is the death of hope.

".

Words swollen with anguish and pain, the same feelings from which Zahra managed to escape but which she does not forget. Shortly before the Taliban took power, she had participated in a demonstration against the fundamentalists and, fearing retaliation, she lived days of hidden anguish together with some friends, until thanks to Italy that received the appeals of her brother Ahmed, resident restaurateur for years in Venice, on 19 August it arrived at Fiumicino airport via the airlift organized by the Defense.

"When I no longer had any hope, the Italian consul in Afghanistan (Tommaso Claudi, ed) and my brother Ahmed contacted me and I was able to leave my country and save my life. But I am anxious for those who remained. being prisoners in our home, if the walls of our homes become a cage this is unacceptable for us and we cannot think of a future like this, without the freedom we had. It is better to commit suicide then than to remain in these conditions ", says Zahra visibly moved.

The activist, now one of the symbols of the Afghan resistance, won the Ischia prize after a journey from the itinerary kept hidden, for fear of attacks.

But the danger of ending up in the crosshairs of the fundamentalists does not push it to hide, on the contrary.

After the withdrawal of the recognition assigned to her by the Giuseppe Valentino Foundation and Culturae Italia, she will participate in the Politics Festival in Mestre, on Saturday 11 September, in a discussion on the Afghan crisis, to raise the alarm on humanitarian risks in her country.