Former Afghan MP who championed female rights shot dead in Kabul | CBC News

Mursal Nabizada, a human rights advocate and former member of Afghanistan’s parliament, has been killed by unknown gunmen at her home in Kabul, police said.

Nabizada and her guard were shot dead and her brother was injured in an attack on the weekend, police said.

The attack took place overnight on Saturday, police said in a statement issued later, noting that they were not informed until about 7 a.m. local time on Sunday.

“The police and security forces very soon took action and started investigation of the case,” police said in the statement.

There have been no arrests and the investigation is continuing, they said.

Nabizada had been a lawmaker until the Taliban took over as foreign forces withdrew in 2021, when many politicians fled the country.

She was one of nine female, former lawmakers that a group of Canadian MPs have been working to bring to Canada since October. They say the situation “grows more dangerous by the day” for the remaining eight. 

“No female is safe. But this is particularly so for these brave women MPs who led the way in opening up public and civic space for women and girls under the previous Afghan government,” said a statement, released Monday, from MPs Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Elizabeth May, Heather McPherson, Marcus Powlowski, Alex Ruff and Leah Taylor Roy.

On social media, people expressed outrage over Nabizada’s killing. 

“Nabizada stayed in Afghanistan to fight for rights of women and girls,” said Tirana Hassan, interim executive director at Human Rights Watch.

‘Tragic loss’

Karen Decker, the chargé d’affaires of the United States’ mission to Afghanistan, based in Qatar, called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

“Angered, heartbroken by murder of Mursal Nabizada, a tragic loss,” she said.

“I offer Mursal’s family my condolences and hope to see them receive justice for this senseless act.”

Nabizada had been elected as a member of the lower house of parliament in 2018 to represent Kabul, according to local broadcaster Tolo.

The Taliban have said they are focused on making the country secure and encouraging Afghans to return, but several attacks have taken place in recent months, including one at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week claimed by Islamic State in which dozens of people were killed or wounded.

WATCH | Dreams shrink for Afghan women under the Taliban: 

Women in Afghanistan facing bleak reality after latest Taliban restrictions

Women in Afghanistan are struggling to cope under the latest rules introduced by the Taliban government that restrict women’s freedom, including bans on attending school and even a ban on women aid workers.

In December, one person was killed in a suicide bomb attack near the Kabul office of the Hezb-e-Islami party, while its leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who was Afghanistan’s prime minister in the 1990s, was inside.