11 Year Old Has Spent Her Life In Prison, Her Crime; Loving Her Mother
Nangarhar provincial prison, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, is a place many children are born and live till they're 18 without having committing a crime.
Her mother, Shirin Gul, is a convicted serial killer, and under Afghanistan rules and regulations she can keep her daughter until she turns 18.
Meena was birthed and nursed there, and in her lifetime in this prison she has gotten chicken pox, mumps, and measles. Despite her environment, she somehow manages to keep a smile on her face and the soft touch of a child, not one who has been confined to a compound surrounded by concrete walls and barbed wired fences.
A picture of Meena and her mother Shirin Gul.
Meena has never been outside the prison and knows nothing of the world besides the stories her mother has told her. She has never seen a television set, has never heard music being played through the radio, nor has she ever been visited by someone outside the prison.
As the story goes, Shirin Gul was working as a prostitute who brought her clients home and fed them drugged kebabs. As some of them passed out from the drug infused kebabs, her family members robbed, murdered, and then nonchalantly bury them in the yards of their two family homes.
According to Shirin Gul, her husband Rahmatullah is the one who committed the crimes. Legally Rahmatullah isn't her husband, but along with husband and wife, her son, and few other family members were convicted for their acts in the murder and robberies of 27 Afghan men in the years of 2001 - 2004.
Everyone in the family was sentenced to death and all died by hanging besides Shirin Gul. Her hanging was delayed due to the fact she got pregnant while in prison custody. Some say it was her way of escaping death. After giving birth to Meena, her sentence was reduced to life in prison by Hamid Karzai, president at the time.
Shirin Gul says she only confessed to the crimes because she was being tortured and felt that her death was surely better than the abuse she was going through.
Unfortunately she has no living relatives so young Meena can't leave the prison even if her mother allowed it. Gul says she has so many enemies out in the real world she wouldn't sleep well at nights knowing her daughter is outside her reach. While being interviewed, Shirin Gul yelled at reporters to send message to the United States president to do something about her daughter's situation as well as her own by speaking to Ashraf Ghani, president of Afghanistan.
Meena is one of 36 children jailed with their mothers, among 42 women in all.
Article from The New York Times down below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/03/world/asia/afghanistan-children-prison.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fworld&action=click&contentCollection=world®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront
I have no words to describe what I'm feeling with post.
Thank you @joseph! I think that humans are supremely good at rationalizing things, especially their own behavior.
It's the reason we look down on someone for being rude and dismissive towards people in the service industry (waiters, baristas, etc) as bad people, yet when we do it's just because we're having a bad day, or we're in a hurry for something important.
It's the reason why we admire good samaritans, the sort of people who would pull over to help someone on the side of the road. We tell ourselves that we're the sort of people who'd do that too, if we weren't worried about the possible danger. The truth is that there's always risk, even for the original Good Samaritan, but we invent these reasons for why we don't act like a good person yet still consider ourselves to be one.
I don't think we're evil at heart or anything, just that, barring the rare psychopath, there don't exist cartoon villains who wake up every morning and say "Today, I'm going to do EVIL!". The vast majority of all evil acts in the world were done by people thought they were doing, if not good, at least justifiable things. Not good, but the Greater Good. The ends justify the means (which Machiavelli never said by the way, it's a loose translation, but I'm getting away from my point). However you want to say it, it's the same basic idea.
Almost all of us consider ourselves good at heart, and many of us even actively try to be good. But whether we are or not is a different story.
TL;DR, if you judge the goodness of a person by their intentions, then yes, most of us are good at heart. If you judge by our actions and their results, then no, most of us aren't.
P.S. Please don't think that I believe that this doesn't apply to me, or that I think I'm superior. I would say that I think I'm not good at heart, I'd even go so far as to say I know it, but I don't grok it. At the end of the day, there's still that same voice in the back of my mind making those same justifications, and I rationalize myself to sleep every night.
I wonder if those kids realize they are in prison, but maybe for some of them it's better to stay there with their mother than living at an orphanage.
Unfortunately, the world is not an easy place. Most westerners sure take a lot for granted.
Wow such a sad story :,( I'm trying to find an online petition or some sort of activism route to help out but haven't seen anything so far. If anyone does know of a way to support these people then please post it.
Thanks for sharing this touching story @joseph.
Luke
Mr Water Geek
Powerful article. Thanks!
Similar issues exist around the world. There are 560 children in prison in Turkey right now.
Imagine a world where all you have ever seen is prison walls. Reminds me of Plato's Allegory of the Cave.
I feel sad for the girl. if she had relatives, I bet she would not have to struggle with her convicted mom. hopefully the come to her aid.
I have read news of people suffering and facing jail terms for crime they never committed.
By reading the content i have understand the struggle of living in a house for your whole life it's such a embarrassing and painful thing in the world much appreciate to your post.. thank you very much for sharing this to us...
I got a lot of trouble for reading this news on 11 years. A man was imprisoned in jail for just loving his mother. This news has been a lot of trouble for me. All the people of the world love him, if he does not love his mother, then there is no love for anyone in the world. I love my mother and I received a lot of pain
Which government responsible for this.....?? America in Afganistan from 2001 ...more than 15 years..they can not change anything...i think USA fully failed to bring peace in this country... .