{"id":7119,"date":"2026-01-24T08:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T08:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7119"},"modified":"2026-01-24T08:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T08:55:07","slug":"afghan-taekwondo-coach-freed-after-13-days-in-jail-over-improper-hijab-and-mixed-gender-training-supreme-court-confirms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/?p=7119","title":{"rendered":"Afghan Taekwondo Coach Freed After 13 Days in Jail Over \u2018Improper\u2019 Hijab and Mixed-Gender Training, Supreme Court Confirms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Afghan taekwondo coach <strong>Khadija Ahmadzada<\/strong>, 22, has been released after spending 13 days in detention for allegedly failing to wear the hijab \u201cproperly,\u201d playing music, and allowing both men and women to train at her fitness center near Herat, according to a spokesperson for Afghanistan\u2019s Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials from the Taliban\u2019s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said inspectors arrested Ahmadzada and several others for violating rules governing women\u2019s sports facilities, adding she had received multiple prior warnings. Women\u2019s gyms and sports centers were ordered closed shortly after the Taliban takeover in 2021, pending a \u201csafe environment,\u201d but have not been formally reopened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Supreme Court announced Ahmadzada\u2019s release on Thursday. It is unclear where she is currently staying. Her arrest had drawn widespread attention online, including a call for her immediate release from <strong>Richard Bennett<\/strong>, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan. Bennett has also highlighted the December detention of <strong>Nazira Rashidi<\/strong>, a female journalist from Kunduz\u2014an arrest Taliban officials deny was linked to her reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rights groups say the case underscores continuing restrictions on Afghan women\u2019s movement, dress, work, and participation in sport, despite international pressure on authorities to reverse bans and reopen public spaces to women and girls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Afghan taekwondo coach Khadija Ahmadzada, 22, has been released after spending 13 days in detention for allegedly failing to wear the hijab \u201cproperly,\u201d playing music, and allowing both men and women to train at her fitness center near Herat, according to a spokesperson for Afghanistan\u2019s Supreme Court. Officials from the Taliban\u2019s Ministry for the Promotion [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7125,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7119\/revisions\/7125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}