Incredible news - legendary actor Naseeruddin Shah has joined the award-winning documentary "Far from Home"! We are thrilled to have his support. You can view the trailer for this documentary (just recently Oscar qualified) here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyka...

🗣️ #WPSWednesday: “Please hear our voices.” #Afghan women testify before the People’s Tribunal in Madrid, detailing Taliban’s gender persecution & demanding justice. @zahranader.bsky.social @zantimes.bsky.social zantimes.com/2025/10/08/p...

🌏 Enquanto nos preparamos para a 14ª Conferência Global de Jornalismo Investigativo na Malásia, de 20 a 24 de novembro, estamos animados em anunciar mais palestrantes confirmados! 🧵 Aqui está uma prévia de alguns dos nomes mais recentes que se juntarão a nós na #GIJC25:

🇦🇫 @zahranader.bsky.social — editor-in-chief, @zantimes.bsky.social 🇷🇸 Mira Milosevic — ED, @gfmd.info 🇫🇷 @laurentrichard.bsky.social — filmmaker, founder @forbidden-stories.bsky.social 🇧🇷 @bykarlamendes.bsky.social — investigative reporter, @mongabay.com

🇦🇫 @zahranader.bsky.social — editora-chefe, @zantimes.bsky.social 🇷🇸 Mira Milosevic — editora executiva, @gfmd.info 🇫🇷 @laurentrichard.bsky.social — cineasta, fundadora @forbidden-stories.bsky.social 🇧🇷 @bykarlamendes.bsky.social — repórter investigativa, @mongabay.com #GIJC25

Over the past four years, the Taliban have steadily erased women from Afghanistan’s educational and academic landscape. Now they have banned textbooks authored or compiled by women. zantimes.com/2025/09/18/t...

For the past three years, 15-year-old Noria has continued her studies through educational radio programs. Her father, Haji Chinar Gul, is her greatest supporter. youtube.com/shorts/1B4LE...

Today’s Afghanistan is different. Fathers no longer have the freedom to give wings to their daughters’ dreams. My father lived our dreams as though they were his own, rejoicing in even our smallest achievements. zantimes.com/2025/08/26/m...

Although Pakistan’s similar deportation campaign has received more media coverage, Iran’s actions are larger in scale, quieter in execution, and arguably more brutal. @zahranader.bsky.social Zan Times writes

Gaza is starving. So are its journalists | Jodie Ginsberg

The international community is watching this unfold and doing almost nothing. UNHCR has issued statements that sound like press release templates. Western governments nod in the direction of concern but offer no action. zantimes.com/2025/07/24/t...

‘We faced hunger before, but never like this’: skeletal children fill hospital wards as starvation grips Gaza

Iran has forcibly deported over 717,000 Afghan refugees and migrants since March 2025, with the total for the year exceeding one million. For them, crossing the border isn't an arrival home—it's the start of a new crisis. Many arrive in Afghanistan with no money, no food, and no shelter.

On Iran’s deportation campaign against Afghan refugees, by @zahranader.bsky.social: leftrenewal.org/articles-en/... (via @zantimes.bsky.social / @himalmag.bsky.social / @danielmang.bsky.social #LeftRenewal )

Over a dozen people who spoke with Zan Times described a process in which physical violence, humiliation and denial of food or medical care were commonplace. This story is published in collaboration with Himal Southasian, a regional magazine of politics and culture. zantimes.com/2025/07/18/d...

The International Women's Media Foundation has announced the winners of the 2025 Courage in Journalism Awards, honoring journalists who demonstrate extraordinary bravery and commitment to truth. Learn more: https://twp.ai/9PUnx7

Among those deported are women who were the sole providers for their families or were travelling alone, and who face an impossible situation in Afghanistan. zahranader.bsky.social writes: www.himalmag.com/politics/ira...

The Iranian officers said, “We can come up with a thousand reasons to keep you and punish you.” Even though we knew there was nothing incriminating on our devices, as the officers said, “Being Afghan is reason enough.” zantimes.com/2025/07/17/t...

Afghan refugee: We’ve been humiliated so much in Iran

Finally some good news re: accountability efforts for gross violations of #womensrights in #afghanistan (with excellent commentary from @zahranader.bsky.social) #icc #humanrights #womenpeacesecurity www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Sana Atef, a Zan Times journalist reporting from southern Afghanistan, has been named one of five recipients of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) Courage in Journalism Award for 2025. Read the full newsletter here: us9.forward-to-friend.com/forward/prev...

Sahar, a widow from Baghlan, had lived in Iran for more than a decade. She ran a small tailoring workshop, had put a deposit down on a home, and was raising five children alone. Now, she’s homeless in her home country. zantimes.com/2025/07/07/i...

Today is a day of pride, a day to celebrate my colleague Sana, who has risked her life to report from the heart of the Taliban’s gender apartheid. Thank you IWMF for recognizing her courage and dedication. At @zantimes.bsky.social we are honoured to be working with her.

In many parts of Iran, Afghan refugees are banned from renting homes, or even from buying dry bread at bakeries. Businesses display banners saying: “No Afghans allowed.” zantimes.com/2025/06/30/f...

What is the Mahram card? The rule requires women to be accompanied by a male guardian (mahram) and carry a Taliban-issued card to access public spaces, workplaces, markets, or even pharmacies. Without it, women risk arrest, beatings, job loss or worse.

Under Taliban rule, LGBTQ+ Afghans say sexual violence and rape is routine Read more: zantimes.com/2025/06/18/u...

I spent 42 days in that tight, dark, damp, and foul-smelling cell. I endured beatings, being hung from the ceiling, cold water poured over me in freezing temperatures, suffocation with plastic, and dozens of psychological and verbal forms of torture. zantimes.com/2025/06/24/t...

How can a regime that refuses to recognize women’s right to exist in public ever accept, recognize, or respect the rights of LGBTQ people? It’s a valid question. One worth asking, and one worth thinking about. Here is my thoughts: zantimes.com/2025/06/10/w...

This year has been devastating for Afghan refugees. As Afghanistan is plagued by insecurity, economic collapse, and deepening poverty, both Iran and Pakistan have started large-scale mass deportation of Afghan refugees. zantimes.com/2025/06/03/n...

The sharp decline in international aid, including this year’s slashed funding from the United States, has pushed Afghanistan’s health sector to the breaking point. Read more: zantimes.com/2025/06/02/d...

Do you have a community where you can speak your mind, feel supported, and cared for? I feel lucky to have found mine in the @zantimes.bsky.social newsletter. I connect with them weekly and feel heard and held. You’re welcome to join—it’s free: zantimes.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...

Benard’s article is not analysis. It is an act of selective sight, a distortion crafted to comfort Western policymakers who want to feel good about engaging with the Taliban and legitimizing their regime. Read more: zantimes.com/2025/05/22/w...

Cheryl Benard, we don’t need your reassurance... we certainly don’t need another round of imperialist feminists explaining that the people who oppress us aren’t really so bad because they smiled at you while they have stripped us of our rights and freedoms. zantimes.com/2025/05/22/w...

A 10-year-old girl gives birth in Kabul, a teenage mother suffering from obstetric fistula is shunned by her own family and forced to eat with animals. Read more in our newsletter: mailchi.mp/zantimes/a-m... Donate Now: www.gofundme.com/f/g6swq

A 10-year-old gives birth. A teen mother with fistula is forced to eat with animals. These are real stories from Afghanistan, shared by a UN official. @zantimes.bsky.social is commissioning Afghan women journalists to report this crisis — but we need your help. mailchi.mp/zantimes/a-m...

New names joining the #IPIWoCo25 lineup! 🟡 See Martin Baron, retired editor of The Washington Post & The Boston Globe, on newsroom leadership and defending journalism’s public mission. Last days to get your early bird ticket before May 15: buff.ly/BzfJU87 More speakers 👇

I write a weekly newsletter for @zantimes.bsky.social every Friday morning. This week, I shared news about our recent award and how your messages, especially one message from a woman journalist who worked with us, gave me fresh hope & strength to keep going. us9.campaign-archive.com?u=dc76a16b7a...

If we don’t have women journalists on the ground, we won’t be able to tell the story of Afghanistan.

Zan Times is deeply honoured to receive the 2025 Pen2Pen Örebro – Freedom of Expression Award, presented on World Press Freedom Day. This award is a powerful tribute to the courage and resilience of Afghan journalistst. Read more here: x.com/ZanTimes/sta...

Zan Times spoke to three women who said they had been flogged by Taliban over the past two years for alleged moral crimes, which they had been forced to confess. This report has been published in partnership with the Guardian. zantimes.com/2025/05/06/w...

Fear that talking to the media will invite Taliban retaliation is everywhere in Afghanistan. We were preparing a report about the death of a woman named Gul Bibi in Takhar province. She had died of injuries sustained during a beating by the Taliban. Read more: zantimes.com/2025/05/07/p...

Before the emergence of the modern education system and the rise of universities, madrasas were the main centres for learning, literacy, and nurturing elites. Read more: zantimes.com/2025/04/24/m...

While the Taliban have banned all forms of modern education for women and girls — including secondary schools, universities, and even private classes — they are rapidly expanding one type of education: religious schools. Read the full newsletter here: mailchi.mp/ec13f92bf8fd...

A joint investigation by Zan Times and The Guardian reveals how the Taliban’s escort policy is endangering the lives of mothers and newborns in Afghanistan. Read the full story: The Gardian: www.theguardian.com/global-devel... Zan Times: zantimes.com/2025/03/07/b...

🗣 #WPSWednesday: “Women [in #Afghanistan] were denied treatment in the absence of a male guardian or because they lacked the permission of one.” Sana Atif, Freshta Ghani, Ruchi Kumar & Zuhal Ahad, @theguardian.com, originally published by @zantimes.bsky.social. www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

The theatre falls into stunned silence. Drawn into the story through the actors’ movements, words, and gazes, the audience bursts into laughter or is moved to tears during the play. Read more: zantimes.com/2025/04/10/t...