Rachel Reid

The Taliban cannot take your pen: Margaret Atwood’s message to Afghan women I am writing this letter to you, the brave women of Afghanistan, who are struggling to preserve a few shreds of human dignity. Over the past four years, I have read a lot about the Taliban and the gro...

@margaretatwood.bsky.social to Afghan women: “The Taliban cannot take away from you your thoughts, your story, your words, your pen. Don’t forget who you are, what you’ve done, and the vision of possibilities that keeps you going.” Letter in @zantimes.bsky.social zantimes.com/2026/03/02/m...

Palestine Action ban ruled unlawful but group remains proscribed for now - live updates Three judges rule against the Home Office in a massive blow to the government, but say the ban must remain until a further hearing.

Huge! Palestine Action ban unlawful, says High Court. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c8...

Afghan Women Spoke: A People’s Tribunal listened Podcast Episode · AANCast · 08/01/2026 · 26m

Listen please to this podcast on the People’s Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan. I hope it does justice to the courage and hope of the Afghan women who made this extraordinary tribunal possible.
@aanafgh.bsky.social @shaharzadakbar.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...

Afghan Women Spoke: The People’s Tribunal for Afghan Women listened The judges of the People’s Tribunal for the Women of Afghanistan have found the Taliban guilty of the crime against humanity of gender persecution. Although this civil society tribunal does not have t...

This report is a reminder that justice doesn’t only live in courtrooms.
Afghan women created their own space for truth, dignity, and accountability.
@rachelreid.bsky.social reports on the historic verdict of the People's Tribunal.
bit.ly/4rWIMVm
#GenderJustice #Afghanistan

Who Dares, Kills? Alleged war crimes and cover-ups by Britain’s special forces British special forces are being investigated for war crimes allegedly committed between 2010 and 2013 in Afghanistan. A public inquiry is looking into the deaths of Afghans who were killed in suspici...

Is the UK’s SAS in trouble? High level whistle-blowers, tenacious victims, their lawyers & some damning journalism is rocking the reputation of the #UK’s most storied special forces. @rachelreid.bsky.social takes a look. #Afghanistan bit.ly/4rDORpQ

Rachel Reid breaks down the evidence behind “Who Dares, Kills?” — alleged extrajudicial killings by UK special forces in #Afghanistan. #WarCrimes
Watch the clip👇Read the investigation bit.ly/4rDORpQ

Who Dares, Kills? Alleged war crimes and cover-ups by Britain’s special forces British special forces are being investigated for war crimes allegedly committed between 2010 and 2013 in Afghanistan. A public inquiry is looking into the deaths of Afghans who were killed in suspici...

Who Dares, Kills? My new report on alleged war crimes and cover-ups by Britain’s special forces in Afghanistan. www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/themed-re...

UN Rights Council Creates Afghanistan Accountability Body The United Nations Human Rights Council on October 6, 2025, adopted a landmark resolution creating an independent mechanism to investigate past and ongoing rights abuses in Afghanistan.

UN Rights Council Creates Afghanistan Accountability Body - a victory for human rights defenders who have fought for this. www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...

Uber’s Festering Sexual Assault Problem

Uber’s Festering Sexual Assault Problem- sexual assaults/misconduct reported EVERY 8 MINUTES www.nytimes.com/2025/08/06/b...

The Guardian view on the other Afghan scandal: countries are forcing refugees back to Taliban rule | Editorial Editorial: The British government’s secret scheme to bring those at risk to the UK has dominated headlines, but, worldwide, many times more are losing protection

Important editorial from @theguardian.com on the inhumanity of forced deportations to Afghanistan. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Reigniting the Flames of Justice: ICC seeks arrest of the Islamic Emirate's Supreme Leader and Chief Justice The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has requested arrest warrants for two of the most senior leaders of the Islamic Emirate. Khan said that there were “reasonable grounds” ...

The International Criminal Court just issued warrants for 2 top Taliban leaders for persecution of women & girls. The warrant is sealed, but I wrote about the details of the prosecutor's requests for @aanafgh.bsky.social in January. www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/r...

Manoeuvring Through the Cracks: The Afghan human rights movement under the Islamic Emirate The end of the Islamic Republic was a catastrophe for Afghanistan’s human rights movement, with nearly all human rights defenders thrown into exile, fearing for their lives. The Islamic Emirate of Afg...

My latest report, on the state of the Afghan human rights movement, which is still finding ways to resist, despite brutal repression: www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/themed-re...

Manoeuvring Through the Cracks: The Afghan human rights movement under the Islamic Emirate The end of the Islamic Republic was a catastrophe for Afghanistan’s human rights movement, with nearly all human rights defenders thrown into exile, fearing for their lives. The Islamic Emirate of Afg...

Despite IEA’s severe restrictions, Afghan human rights defenders persist.Many work from exile and a new wave of women's rights activists has emerged in #Afghanistan. @rachelreid.bsky.social has been speaking to human rights defenders about adaptation and survival in the new era. bit.ly/4kRiSOX

Two thirds of Brits want Keir Starmer to end arms sales to Israel, poll shows Polling by campaign group Global Justice Now found 65% if voters support an arm sales ban until attacks on Gaza end, with just 11% opposing the move

NEW: 3 in 5 Brits would support sanctions on Israel, to exert pressure on it to stop its attacks on Gaza

65% would support a COMPLETE arms sales ban to Israel. And 60% would support an end to the trade deal between the UK and Israel.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

Will Putin be toppled by a military coup? In Putin’s Sledgehammer, Candace Rondeaux gives a detailed account of the 2023 mutiny led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. Could rising discontent in the ranks lead to more trouble for the Kremlin?

Out now: the brilliant Candace Rondeaux’s new book on Putin’s Sledgehammer, the Wagner Group. www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

Annoyed by google’s unbidden Ai results? Put -ai at the end of your search.

International Civil Society's Tech Stack is in Extreme Danger Many in the international community are not ready for the US to abuse its hegemonic power in ways that directly destroy the ability for international NGO's and even liberal democratic governments to f...

Microsoft pulled the plug on its tech to the International Criminal Court - a stark lesson to civil society to ween itself off US tech, while it can. www.thedissident.news/internationa...

'Children handcuffed and shot' - ex-UK Special Forces break silence on war crime claims Veterans who served with the SAS and SBS give BBC Panorama eyewitness accounts of alleged executions.

More chilling revelations of war crimes by British special forces - now implicating the SBS as well as SAS. A veteran tells the BBC their actions could be "barbaric". Watch Panorama on the BBC iplayer, story here, important journalism: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Losing His Immunity: Former Afghan MP Haji Zaher extradited to US on drug charges Kenya is extraditing the Afghan commander and politician, Haji Abdul Zaher Qadir, to the United States, after arresting him at a hotel in Nairobi. The US has charged Haji Zaher with drug and weapons t...

The infamous Haji Zaher Qadir has finally fallen, caught (or entrapped?) by the exceptionally long arms of the US ‘war on drugs’. www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/p...

Opinion | Republican Men and Women Are Changing Their Minds About How Women Should Behave The men and women of the G.O.P. are changing their minds about how men and women should behave.

“The percentage of Republican men who agree that women should return to their traditional roles increased from 28 percent in May 2022 to 48 percent in November 2024. Among Republican women, there was an increase from 23 percent to 37 percent.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/o...

(silent scream)

Moving tale of one teacher's attempts to keep teaching under the #Taliban #girlseducation #Afghanistan

Meanwhile, over in #Gilead, Donald Trump creates a Faith Office.

I wish this wasn’t quite so good.

I keep wondering if we need a new word. Perhaps not. By @rubenbolling.bsky.social

Ahh I’d love to listen in, wrong time zone, will you share a recording afterwards? Thank you

While everything Trump says & does is extreme, what he just proposed on Gaza is unquestionably the most deranged and grotesque policy he's unveiled in his entire presidency across both terms.

It’s the combination of ethnic cleansing with dollar signs in his eyes for those “great beaches”that is so terrifying and dehumanising. #Gaza

On Trump’s ethnic cleansing-real estate Gaza plan, Palestinian UN envoy: “For those who want to send the Palestinian people to a ‘nice place’, allow them to go back to their original homes in what is now Israel…the Palestinian people want to rebuild Gaza because this is where we belong.”