It was the early hours of the morning when a guard entered Sohrab’s cell – a small, dark room with a barred window and a blanket on the floor – in Kabul’s sprawling Pul-e-Charkhi prison last August. The 19-year-old was escorted to another room in the complex, where he heard a Taliban member order the prison guards to leave and stop anyone else from entering. Panic set in, for Sohrab knew what these words often preceded. He had experienced physical violence at the hands of the Taliban before. “He grabbed me from behind, tore my clothes apart and raped me,” Sohrab – whose name has been changed for security reasons – told CNN in October. “For several days after that I had severe pain and bleeding.”

Sohrab was being detained at Pul-e-Charkhi on the charge of sodomy, after family members found out about his and his boyfriend’s clandestine romance last year, he said. News of their relationship had spread through their tight-knit community, leading to his arrest and forced confession.

Sohrab spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity, following his release from prison after two months. On his release, Sohrab said the Taliban warned that if he was arrested again, he would face execution. Human rights monitors have told CNN that since 2021, when the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, LGBTQ citizens have faced widespread sexual and physical violence in detention amid a systematic clampdown on minority groups. CNN has spoken to five LGBTQ Afghans who say they experienced physical abuse during time in detention, including – for some – repeated rape, electrocution, strangulation and flogging with metal chains. Transgender and gender non-conforming people are being “consistently” targeted at Taliban checkpoints due to their choice of clothing, human rights groups said.

In response to CNN’s findings, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “acts such as sodomy, bestiality and other perversions that contravene Islamic law are illegal and perpetrators dealt with within the legal framework.” They added: “These allegations are fabrications as the alleged claims of torture, rape, persecution and mistreatment are themselves explicit violations of the legal framework.” (CNN)