Human rights conditions worsen in Afghanistan and Iran as aid arrives

Five years after the Taliban regained control in Afghanistan, human rights monitors report severe rollbacks in basic freedoms, with women facing systemic exclusion from public life, employment, and legal protections. An investigation into 231 femicide cases indicates widespread impunity for perpetrators, compounded by the 2023 abolition of the attorney general's office, which formerly tracked such crimes.

Concurrently, nearly 40 percent of the Afghan population requires urgent humanitarian assistance. The United Nations confirmed that an international convoy of over 700 trucks carrying vital food and provisions crossed into the country from Pakistan despite border tensions.

In neighbouring Iran, rights organisations reported the execution of 24-year-old Marzieh Neyri after she defended herself against sexual assault, highlighting rigid evidentiary barriers for female victims under the country's retribution laws.

Sources: Diário de Notícias (DN), Expresso, Expresso das Ilhas, Jornal Económico, RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal)