Afghan ambassador to Spain stripped of status after sexual assault claims

Telegraph

19-03-2025

Afghanistan's ambassador in Spain has been stripped of his diplomatic status amid accusations of serious sexual assaults.
His accusers say Mohammad Rahim Peerzada abused his position of trust to approach them and, in one alleged case, commit rape after using a powerful drug.
But Madrid's provincial court ruled in September it could not investigate Mr Peerzada as he enjoyed diplomatic immunity. He took over as ambassador at the Afghan Embassy in Madrid when the Taliban came to power in Kabul in 2021.
After complaints from members of the Afghan community, Spain 's government has reacted by stripping Mr Peerzada of his diplomatic status.
'This person does not represent any official delegation, is not accredited in Spain and does not enjoy diplomatic immunity in our country,' Spain's Foreign Ministry said in a statement it shared with The Telegraph.
One woman reported Mr Peerzada to the public prosecution office in Madrid last summer for alleged sexual assault.
According to the account by the woman, a refugee from the Taliban given the pseudonym Anis, Mr Peerzada met her at an embassy party to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8 2022, and promised to help her get a job in the mission.
They went to a shisha bar to discuss the proposal and there, Anis claimed, her Coca-Cola was spiked and the next thing she remembered was him raping her in a Madrid hotel before driving her to a railway station.
'I felt very weak, my vision was blurred and I urgently needed to sleep,' Anis told the German newspaper Die Welt, describing how she felt on finishing her drink after visiting the bar's toilet for a minute.
Mr Peerzada was appointed as Afghanistan 's consul in Madrid in Feb 2021, months before then-president Ashraf Ghani 's pro-Western government collapsed. When the ambassador left, he became the de facto head of the diplomatic mission.
The Telegraph has contacted the Afghan Embassy in Madrid to request a response to the allegations.
It is not clear whether Madrid's provincial court will now take up the case again or if more accusations have been presented against Mr Peerzada.
Die Welt spoke to the woman identified as Anis and several others who said they had been victims of abuse or attempted assaults by the ambassador. Germany's police force has reportedly opened an investigation into the claims.
Another Afghan woman residing in Spain told El País how she met Mr Peerzada in a restaurant to discuss how to improve the situation of the 4,000 Afghanis who live in Spain.
The woman said she had accompanied the ambassador to his apartment to smoke a shisha. There, she said he had pushed her onto the bed while supposedly showing her around a home she described as 'luxurious'.
'I thought he was going to rape me. I was terrified but tried not to show it. I pushed him away and said, 'I didn't come here to have sex with you',' the woman told the Spanish newspaper using the assumed name Simin.
Mr Peerzada has denied the allegations.