Activist threatens self-immolation in Afghanistan for women’s rights

World Today

A young man in Afghanistan is threatening to self-immolate in solidarity with the women and girls who commit suicide after being traded under the practice of ‘baad’- the practice of selling girls and women for money and trading them to settle disputes.

CCTV’s Catherine James reports.

Khan Wali Adel had said he would set himself on fire if Afghanistan’s highest Islamic office, the Ulema Council, did not respond to his demand for them to publicly condemn ‘baad’.

For the past four months, Adel has staged a sit-in protest near Parliament House in Kabul. But as the deadline approached and the Ulema Council remained silent, it was clear the 24-year-old schoolteacher from Paktiya province did not want to die.

On the day of his ultimatum, even firefighters were on standby to prevent his self-immolation. At the 11th hour the Ulema Council responded.

Outside the Ulema Council, the fire engine is leaving, and Khanwali Adel is leaving a happy man not having to set himself on fire here today after the Ulema Council agreed to his demand to issue a religious fatwa against the practice of baad.

His protest has galvanized social activists and inspired those working for women’s rights.