Marzieh Hamidi, a former taekwondo champion for Afghanistan who now lives in France as a refugee, has been placed under police protection after protesting against the Taliban's treatment of women.
Hamidi, 21, used to compete on the Afghan national taekwondo team but was forced to flee when the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
She told RFI she had been flooded with threatening messages since posting a video on social media at the end of August denouncing "gender apartheid" in her homeland.
Filming herself on a Paris street, Hamidi denounced the Taliban's restrictions on women's clothing, education and other basic freedoms, including doing sport.
She invited her followers to use the hashtag #LetUsExist to "be the voice for [those] who are voiceless inside Afghanistan".
Re-shared thousands of times, the post ended up attracting the attention of Afghan media.
The situation escalated when a journalist asked Hamidi her opinion of Afghanistan's popular national cricket team, she told RFI. The men's squad has continued to play with the backing of the Taliban government, while women players have been driven into exile.
Hamidi told the interviewer that she believed the male players were "normalising the Taliban" and did not represent Afghan women. "So for me, they are a terrorist cricket team, not a national cricket team," she said.
The interview appeared on YouTube a few days later and quickly drew a backlash.
"The day after, I was at my home and I received the first call," Hamidi told RFI's Frédérique Genot.
It came from a man speaking Pashto. "He told me: 'I have your address in Paris, just be aware that I will find you.'"
No giving up
In the space of three days, Hamidi says she received calls from some 3,000 different numbers in France and other European countries, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malaysia and elsewhere.
She moved out of her home and contacted her lawyer, who went to the police. They have had Hamidi under special protection since early September.
"Now I'm under police protection, but I lost my freedom, I lost my safety. I don't feel safe any more in Paris," said Hamidi, who until recently used to train alongside France's national taekwondo team.
She has since changed her number but continues to receive abuse via social media, including sexually explicit images and threats of rape or other violence.
Hamidi has nonetheless kept her accounts on X and Instagram, where she still posts regularly.
"If I stay at home and cry and just be sad and afraid, they win," she told RFI.
"It's very hard. But I've been in Afghanistan, I've been fighting against the Taliban in the streets of Kabul. I'm a fighter, so I can't give up."
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Solidarity from home
Among the threats have also come messages of support from Afghan women and girls, Hamidi said.
"They told me that they cannot raise their voice in Afghanistan, and they want me to be their voice."
Though the security measures have forced her to stop training and suspend her daily life, Hamidi feels lucky to have access to protection and the means to continue speaking publicly.
She said: "Imagine that millions of girls in Afghanistan, they have no protection, they are with the terrorists, and nobody can hear their voice."
