Condemned to die Taliban's escort rules kill Afghan women and babies

It was the middle of the night when Zarin Gul realised that her heavily pregnant daughter Nasrin had to get to hospital as soon as possible.

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Nasrin's husband was away working in Iran and the two women were alone with Nasrin's seven children when she began experiencing severe pains.

Gul helped Nasrin into a rickshaw and they set off into the night. Holding her daughter's hand as the rickshaw jolted over the dirt road, Gul says she prayed they would not encounter a Taliban checkpoint. "I kept thinking, if only Nasrin's husband were here. If only I could ease my daughter's pain," she says. Her prayers were not answered. The rickshaw's small lamp was spotted by Taliban fighters who signalled for them to stop and demanded to know where they were going.

As a frightened Gul explained that her daughter needed urgent medical attention, they asked why the women were travelling without a male escort, or mahram. Even though Gul explained that Nasrin's husband was working abroad, the fighters refused to allow them to continue their journey to hospital.

"I begged them, telling them my daughter was dying. I pleaded for their permission," says Gul. "But they still refused. In desperation, I lied and said the rickshaw driver was my nephew and our guardian. Only then did they let us pass."

By the time they reached the hospital it was too late. Nasrin's baby had died in her womb, and her uterus had ruptured. The doctors said she needed to be transferred to another hospital and so they set off in another rickshaw towards a hospital an hour away. On their way they were stopped at two more checkpoints, each time detained for long periods because they were travelling alone.

They did reach the hospital, but Nasrin had not survived the journey. "The doctors told us that because of excessive bleeding and the ruptured uterus, both the baby and the mother had died," says Gul. "We buried them side by side."