Sitara Achakzai, a woman politician from Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, was shot and killed by members of the Taliban after attending a provincial council meeting on April 12, 2009. She was a proponent of women’s rights including the right to work, and she promoted a prayer for peace at a large mosque in Kandahar for International Women’s Day. She was secretary of the council for the past two years. Ms. Achakzai lived in exile in Germany from 1990 until she returned to Afghanistan in 2004. Family members revealed that Ms. Achakzai opposed the new Afghan law (yet to be passed) which may legalize marital rape. (See What’s New article here.)
Compiled from: Boone, Jon, Taliban shoot dead Afghan politician who championed women's rights, The Guardian, 13 April 2009; Sitara Achakzai, Female Afghan Politician, Gunned Down By Taliban For Women's Rights Work, The Huffington Post, 13 April 2009; 'She was a warrior': Family members reflect on Sitara Achakzai's life and the Afghanistan they once knew, Globe and Mail, 14 April 2009.