Disappeared: The Women Gone Missing in Afghanistan's Prisons

Disappeared: The Women Gone Missing in Afghanistan's Prisons

By BBC Radio 4

First hand reports from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Estonia, Lebanon and the German village of Oberammergau.

Taliban promises to respect women's rights seem to be fading. Reports have emerged of Afghan women being arrested for alleged “moral crimes,” and thrown in prison without charge. Ramita Navai managed to get into one of the prisons where these women are being held.

Cambodia has some of the greatest Buddhist sites in the world, but many of these have suffered at the hand of looters. As Celia Hatton discovered, some of this theft has occurred very recently.

Estonia is attempting to win over its Russian-speaking minority. One third of the country speak Russian as their first language, and in some regions, almost everyone does. Could Vladimir Putin use an alleged attack on Russian speakers’ rights as an excuse to intervene? Estonia's innovative strategy is to offer them a series of fun events in the Estonian language, which Lucy Ash went to watch.

The politics of Lebanon are complex, and often bitterly divided. Lebanon held an election last weekend, against a backdrop of economic collapse. Leila Molana-Allen found many voters hoping that this time round, change may be afoot, although predictable cynicism was also evident.

This year, there is a new donkey for the Oberammergau Passion Play. In a tradition going back to the Seventeenth Century, two thousand residents of this small village in Bavaria present the tale of Jesus Christ and the crucifixion, for one season, every decade. Obergammerau has once again welcomed spectators to what is a unique performance. Adrian Bridge went to meet the cast.

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