Abdul-Hakim Hashemi Hamidi

Abdul-Hakim Hamidi is an award-winning writer, human rights defender, playwright, and theater director from Afghanistan. His body of work spans short stories, plays, screenplays, and articles on social, cultural, and political topics, which have been published on The Republic of Silence news website and his personal blog. Hamidi holds a degree in History from Herat University (2012) , Afghanistan, and a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action from Sciences Po, Paris (2017) . After gaining professional experience at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Collège de France, he began his PhD research at INALCO in Paris. In his research project, he focuses on the Afghan diaspora and their transnational activities.

 
Hamidi’s writings often delve into the influence of neighboring countries, such as Iran, on Afghanistan’s religious and cultural identity, including the propagation of fundamentalism and the cultural resistance to social and cultural change. In 2011, his article The Role of the Media in Promoting Human Rights won first prize at a seminar organized by the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although he has written numerous short stories, security concerns and the instability of his life have prevented their publication.

In Afghanistan, Hamidi faced constant threats from the Taliban and other religious fundamentalist groups due to his artistic work advocating for social and cultural rights. As part of his human rights activism, Hamidi focused on topics such as women’s and children’s rights, the importance of individual participation in elections and voting, access to education for all, the role of education in empowering women and young girls, family conflict resolution, and empowerment in conflict zones and post-war recovery. These efforts were carried out through youth outreach programs and the formation of local artistic groups,using theater as a tool for communication across cultural boundaries.

His journey as a human rights activist began during his time in Iran as a refugee. There, he worked tirelessly to defend the rights of Afghan refugees,which led to his arrest and imprisonment by Iranian authorities. In 2004, he returned to Afghanistan, where he continued his advocacy, with a particular focus on women’s and children’s rights.

Hamidi co-founded the Simorgh Film Association of Culture and Art (SFACA) in Herat province, where he served as general and artistic director for nearly a decade. Under his leadership, SFACA developed social development programs through educational theaters, short and feature films, and TV series focused on human rights, particularly the rights of women and children. To promote SFACA’s work and raise public awareness, Hamidi authored articles for various websites,newspapers, and social media platforms in Afghanistan.

From 2015 to 2017, Hamidi was an ICORN resident in the Paris City of Refuge.