LONDON — Onstage, wearing a small, sparkling bikini, Roya Karimi projects an image of strength as her tanned, well-defined muscles glisten under the bright lights and she shows off the result of countless hours in the gym.
But her physical prowess is matched by her mental fortitude and a steely determination to both represent and help women in her home country of Afghanistan, where Taliban leaders have barred education for girls beyond the sixth grade, banned most employment for women and have prohibited them from many public spaces.
Inviting her detractors to “go to hell,” Karimi, 30, urged other women in her homeland not to give up.
“We are born free and when somebody takes your freedom, I know the pain,” she said. “You never choose where you will be born. You never choose your religion,” she added, insisting that her heart was with Afghan women and girls “that have the same pain as I had before.”
While the Taliban was not in power for most of her childhood, having been ousted by the U.S.-led invasion in October 2001, many still abided by a strict interpretation of Islamic or Sharia law promoted by the group.
Attending school, she said she had to “learn about religion,” but she noticed at an early age that human rights didn’t “exist in my childhood or in general in Afghanistan.” Children, particularly girls, “don’t have any rights,” she said.
She finished school at the age of 13 and one year later she said she was forced into an arranged marriage.
Within a year, she said she was pregnant with her son, Erfann, now 17.
A husband and a new baby would be a challenge for any teenager, but Karimi said she also felt additional pressure from the pervasive social restrictions in the country, which, in 2011, were considerably more lenient than under Taliban rule.
Aided by her mother, Mahtab Amiri, who coordinated her escape, she left the country with Erfaan and was driven to Iran. From there, she made her way to Turkey and then Greece before she eventually settled in Norway, where she was granted asylum.
“It was very scary. But when you are in that situation, you will just, I don’t know how, but you will manage with your feelings,” Karimi said, adding that she spent most of her time focusing on her son, who “was the only thing.”
Later, she said her mom made her way to Europe and built a life in Germany. Amiri, who died of a heart attack 10 years ago at the age of 54, “was my first hero, a beautiful woman and human,” Karimi said. “She would tell me, you must be independent, you must earn your degree,” she added.
During her first difficult years in Norway, Karimi said she had to learn a new language and adapt to a completely different culture. Slowly but surely she found her footing, completing her nursing training and following her mom into the profession.
She said her regular trips to the gym quickly became her main passion and also her therapy. Regular workouts helped her with struggles sleeping at night, a symptom of the trauma triggered by her childhood in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan she said there was no culture of women “bodybuilding or going to the gym,” she said, adding that in Norway it was normal. Working out, she said, helped her both mentally manage her stress and become more strong physically.
“You must have very good discipline,” she said, adding that you have to follow “every step for the shape you wish.”
It was at the gym that she met longtime bodybuilder and fellow Afghan Kamal Jalaluddin, who would go on to become her husband and who would support her when she decided last year to leave the nursing career and take up bodybuilding professionally.
While many embraced her decision, Karimi said she has received online death threats and abuse and her social media accounts have been hacked.
“They don’t like women raising their voice, they don’t like women to go to school,” she said. “It’s about their mentality that they want to remove women from the society.”
She compared her abusers to the Taliban which, after retaking power in 2021, have imposed strict laws governing women requiring them to wear veils and cover their bodies entirely in public. The group has also decreed that women should always be accompanied by a male relative when not in their homes and has banned education for teenage girls.
The Taliban have defended their approach to justice by claiming they are implementing Islamic sharia law, but Islamic scholars and others have said their interpretation surpasses restrictions in other Muslim-majority countries and does not adhere to Islamic teachings. They say protecting the legal rights of women is a priority.
Since she started competing three years ago, Karimi has won and placed highly in several competitions in Norway and other parts of Europe, as well as Dubai.
She plans to continue competing, she said, and hopes to attend next year’s world championship in Saudi Arabia, where rights groups say women continue to face discrimination, despite a raft of social, political and economic changes in recent years.
“This is my body and I know what’s too far from me,” she said, adding that women in Afghanistan should be given their freedom too.
“See them grow,” she said. “See them shine.”
