Afghan rape victim lives in fear

Two-years after she was beaten and raped by eight men, fourteen-year-old Samiya has yet to see justice.

Her story stands in contrast to Western claims that the lot of women in Afghanistan has improved since the US-led invasion.

Seven of the eight men who attacked Samiya were arrested, but her family believes their daughter’s rapists have powerful connections and are looking for revenge.

Samiya and he family live in fear and her father, whose story Al Jazeera reported on two years ago, has been imprisoned by a local leader after he sought justice for his daughter.

‘Nobody cares’

Eight years after the US-led invasion that was supposed to liberate Afghanistan, women are still living without the most basic rights, vulnerable to abuse and often deprived of education.

“Nobody cares about women,” Fatana Gailini, the chairperson of Afghanistan’s women’s council, told Al Jazeera.

“People are not well-educated about how to go to the police, or the courts [to report abuse]. The government is full of corruption. We need strong political and economic support in Afghanistan.”

She warned a lack of funds was threatening charities for women and called for greater support from the government and donors.

“So much money came to Afghanistan in the last five years, but there hasn’t been a positive change to women’s lives. We hope the new cabinet coming in will change that,” she said.

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president who won re-election in November, is expected to announce his cabinet line up in the next few days.