When Meena Amani played in a small theatre in her school, she had no idea that such a low-profile gig would open up new opportunities and trigger a deluge of threats against her life.
Among the audience on that day five years ago in the western Afghan provincial capital of Herat were a group of regional filmmakers and actors who were desperately looking for female players in conservative Herat province, where many view acting for women as un-Islamic while most parents do not even allow their daughters to attend school.
The then-17-year-old schoolgirl soon entered a business that had been banned under the Taliban and began appearing in movies, television shows, commercials and as the presenter of Afghan Star, the country's version of American Idol.
Amani herself became a star as well as an idol for fans across the country. But her popularity, public performances and defiance of age-old Afghan tradition for women to remain out of the public eye outraged conservatives in her hometown, who considered her a disgrace to their society.
Their anger has prompted Amani and her husband to place their fate in the hands of smugglers to help them flee Afghanistan. "I started receiving calls from people who told me to quit because it is not in our culture for a girl to appear on TV and, they said if I don't, I will have to suffer the consequences," Amani said.
Initially, she said, she did not pay any heed to the threats, believing them to be "empty warnings." But one day this year, she was stalked by two men who had covered their faces and were riding on motorbikes, she said. "Luckily I was near home and the door of my house was open," the 22-year-old said. "I rushed inside. Otherwise I could have been stabbed or they could have thrown acid on me."
Since then, she has gone into hiding and stopped appearing in public unless covered in an all-enveloping burqa. She moved to a new home, cancelled all her planned performances and turned down new contracts. But her disappearance from the public eye has failed to stop the anger against her. A cleric, for example, said in a June 24 sermon that she had brought shame to Herat and asked hundreds of worshippers to take action against her, according to Amani and a man who was present at the mosque.
Her husband, who asked not to be identified, has also received threats on his life. "Before getting married, life was normal for me," the 26-year-old said at a restaurant in Herat city where the couple agreed to be interviewed. "But now, everyday, people come and ask me why I let my wife act and why I don't work myself and feed her."
Afghanistan has always been a male-dominated society. The situation was worse under the Taliban. The ultra-Islamic movement banned education for women and girls and prevented women from venturing outside their homes unless covered from head to toe and accompanied by male members of their families. But nearly 10 years since the ouster of Taliban regime, women continue to suffer discrimination and domestic violence.
Amani is not the only female performer to receive death threats. Farida Tarana and Setara Hussainzada, two singers from Herat who made it into Afghan Star's top 10, received threats on their lives. Both women left Herat and now lead low-profile lives in Kabul. In their hometown, which is relatively peaceful for Afghanistan and one of the country's few liberal cities, domestic violence is strikingly high. Hundreds of women have set themselves on fire since the Taliban's 2001 fall because of abuse at the hands of their husbands or other members of their families.
At least 70 cases were registered in 2010, said Sayed Abdul Qader Rahimi, the regional director of the government's human rights commission in western Afghanistan. Amani was willing to undertake a risky, illegal journey through Iran and Turkey and on to Europe to escape her country. "If I stay, I will definitely be targeted," said Amani, who left a day after the interview. The same trip has cost the lives of dozens of other Afghans. "I swear to God, I am prepared to die on the way but not to stay here," Amani said.