Two young LGBT rights activists in Afghanistan face torture and being stoned to death by the Taliban after trying to leave the country.
Maryam Ravish, 19, and Maeve Alcina Pieescu, 23, were detained while trying to flee the regime, which carries out brutal executions against LGBT people.
Maryam, a lesbian woman, was set to escape to Iran with her partner, Parwen Hussaini, and friend Maeve, a trans woman, on March 20, 2025.
But as they went to board the plane in Kabul, Maryam and Maeve went intercepted by the Taliban’s intelligence unit, allegedly beaten and ‘held in captivity’.
Nemat Sadat, CEO of Roshaniya, the Afghan LGBT network, said: ‘They are expected to be tortured to reveal the names of other LGBTs and sentenced to a long jail term or possibly executed [sic].’
‘Maryam and Maeve now face the death penalty for simply wanting to be free and happy,’ he added.
Susan Battaglia, Maeve’s sister, who now lives in Michigan, said: ‘My family in Afghanistan is very anxious about Maeve being tortured and killed.’
During her interrogation, she said, Maeve confessed that she is not a Muslim.
‘This is scary for our family since the penalty for apostasy—under sharia law—is death.’
Maeve Alcina Pieescu, left, Maryam Ravish and Parwen Hussaini in Kabul
Maryam Ravish and Parwen Hussaini, separated by the Taliban as they tried to flee the regime
Parwen, who was able to carry on to Iran, said that Maryam and Maeve were stopped after the Taliban seized their belongings and found ‘LGBT+ content’ on their phones.
They had been due to leave the country on a Mahan Air flight from Kabul late last month, accompanied to the airport by a male chaperone.
‘I last heard from them when they were being taken away by Taliban’s armed men inside the airport in a car,’ Nemat, their employer, said.
Both Maryam and Maeve are still being held in Taliban captivity and ‘have been beaten and battered very badly’, the 20-year-old said.
He told The Independent that Taliban prisons were often ‘extremely harsh’ for trans people.
‘They are likely to punish, sexually harass, and even subject members of the trans community to torture in prison,’ he warned.
‘It is very likely that Ms Maeve is being punished in the prison by the Taliban right now.’
Parwen shared in concerns that ‘it is possible they would be placed in solitary confinement and stoned to death’.
‘It is possible for them to receive a death penalty.’
Horrifying footage filmed in 2020 showed an Afghan woman being stoned to death by a mob
Taliban security personnel gather at the site two days after air strikes by Pakistan in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province on December 26, 2024
A Taliban judge said in a rare interview in 2021 that the regime considers two options as ‘punishment’ for gay people: either stoning or having an 8ft-10ft wall toppled on them.
Parwen had hoped to eventually move to Europe with her partner to be married, after falling in love in school in December 2021, shortly after the Taliban took over Kabul.
She told The Independent that they had to call off their relationship a year after getting together, struggling to keep a same-sex relationship going in the city.
They rekindled their relationship in 2023 and made plans to leave.
LGBT people face intense persecution in Afghanistan under the Taliban, compounded by hostile attitudes from the public.
Parwen said that Maeve’s family have not been in touch and dismissed their ‘request to work with them’.
‘We have no word from Maryam to know what situation they are in now,’ she said.
Maryam’s family also ‘refused to accept her sexuality as a lesbian and forced her to marry a man,’ Nemat explained.
Taliban fighters stand guard during the funeral prayers of Khalil Haqqani, the minister for refugees and repatriation, in eastern Paktia province, Afghanistan, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024
‘She tried to escape and Maeve, a trans person, helped her at great personal risk.’
‘The actual source of this problem is rooted in the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, which deems homosexuality forbidden and a woman’s place to be in the home,’ he added.
My agony is indescribable,’ Parwen said. ‘I knew that if I were to leave Afghanistan, it would not be without Maryam.
‘She knew she would leave her family because they would never support us.’
Roshaniya is calling on human rights organisations and LGBT organisations to demand the immediate release of Maryam and Maeve.
