The Taliban executed a young woman and uploaded sickening photos of her beheaded body on social media, it has been claimed.
Mahjabin Hakimi, a highly-rated player with the Kabul Municipality Volleyball Club, was slaughtered by jihadists, her former coach says.
In an interview with The Persian Independent, he accused the fundamentalists of sharing images of her corpse online.
The girl's death, which occurred earlier this month, is only now being reported because the coach claims the family were subjected to threats from Islamist militants if they spoke out.
The Taliban does not allow women to play sport under their rule, and since taking control made it clear that it was a punishable offence to take part.
Coach Suraya Afzali says she was captured having failed to escape Afghanistan after the collapse of the previous government.
But conflicting reports on social media said she had been mysteriously killed a week before the Taliban returned to power.
"All the players of the volleyball team and the rest of the women athletes are in a bad situation and they are in despair and live in fear," he said in the interview.
"Everyone has been forced to flee and live in unknown places."
The new all-male Taliban government was formed earlier this year, with women excluded.
A spokesperson for the group says they should restrict themselves to 'giving birth' - and steer clear of politics and sport.
According to an official in the hardline Islamist group, women won’t be allowed to ‘expose them or their bodies to the media’ by taking part in matches.
The deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission said women’s sport was considered neither appropriate - or necessary.
Ahmadullah Wasiq defended the decision to Australian broadcaster SBS.
“I don’t think women will be allowed to play cricket because it is not necessary that women should play cricket,” Wasiq said.
“In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered.
"Islam does not allow women to be seen like this.
“It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed.”
Zahra Fayazi, a member of senior volleyball team who fled to the UK in August, described last month how a fellow player had been murdered by the Taliban.
"Our players who were living in the provinces had to leave and live in other places," she told the BBC.
"They even burned their sports equipment to save themselves and their families. They didn't want them to keep anything related to sport. They are scared.
"Many of our players who are from provinces were threatened many times by their relatives who are Taliban and Taliban followers.
"The Taliban asked our players' families to not allow their girls to do sport, otherwise they will be faced with unexpected violence."
