Taliban Execute Six Hazara People in Ghor, says Amnesty International

Hasht-E Subh New investigation revealed by Amnesty International on Thursday (September 15th) stating that the Taliban has prosecuted Hazara civilians in Ghor province. Hazara are a persecuted ethnic minority facing persecution.

In the continuation of this report, it is stated that the Taliban have arrested and executed four men in a night operation following the search for a former security officer.

The report adds that a woman and a 12-year-old girl were also killed during this attack.

According to this organization, traces of torture were found on the body of one of the victims.

Amnesty International said the attack was part of a wider pattern of targeted and unlawful killings of people the Taliban consider enemies.

“The Taliban must immediately end this brutal pattern of targeted killings and, as responsible authorities, ensure the protection of all Afghans,” Agnes Callamard, head of Amnesty International, said.

The right group has also mentioned similar attacks in Ghazni and Daikundi provinces.

Previously, the Taliban attacked the house of Mohammad Moradi, one of the commanders of public uprising forces in the former republic government, and shot him along with his wife, daughter and other affiliates.

Afghanistan is one of the countries where many examples of war crimes such as crimes against humanity, and genocide have been recorded in the last few decades, but with the re-emergence of the Taliban after two decades of armed conflict against the Kabul Administration that was established with financial backbone support of the international community, the level and number of crimes have increased significantly. Killing prisoners of war, torturing prisoners, restricting the freedom of women, and usurping citizens’ houses and properties are very common examples of the crimes that the Taliban are accused of committing. The findings of the United Nations special rapporteur in Afghanistan show that Taliban rebels in different parts of the country have been systematically violating human rights and humiliating the citizens based on their ethnic and religious affiliations.

However, Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission, and several other institutions involved in war and matters of Afghanistan are calling on the International Criminal Court to intervene and investigate the crimes in Afghanistan. A request has already been raised by a prosecutor of this court, but the court has not yet responded to these requests.

In the latest case, Human Rights Watch published a report on Monday, September 12, asking the International Criminal Court to take serious action regarding the recent human rights crimes in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. It is stated in this report that this investigation can determine the human rights crimes of the Taliban in Afghanistan that how far the group has been in terms of opposing the public and opponents.

Elizabeth Evenson, Director, International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch says that International Criminal Court is the only institution that can enable the environment for other institutions to intervene and investigate violations of human rights in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. According to her, the interventions and decisions of the International Criminal Court are vital for establishing justice in Afghanistan, and Afghans have been waiting for justice in their country for a long time.

The Human Rights Watch report also states that in recent months, targeted killings, torture, disappearances of citizens, and widespread violations of the rights of women and girls by the Taliban have been documented by this organization. The statement also states that serious abuses continue in Afghanistan and some of them may be related to international crimes.

Human Rights Watch is not the only organization that wants to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan. Other organizations also complain about widespread human rights violations by the Taliban. According to the officials of these institutions, the world’s silence toward the matters of Afghanistan will for sure lead to the human tragedy in Afghanistan.

Naeem Nazari, Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission Head, said that this commission, civil society institutions, and various other human rights structures have repeatedly called for war crimes to be investigated in Afghanistan.

He emphasizes that no part of Afghanistan’s historical crimes should be forgotten. According to him, all crimes in this country must be documented so that they can be dealt with fairly and justly. He states: “If today we witness the continuation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Afghanistan, it is due to lack of the international institutions’ attention toward this primary matter.”

Mr. Nazari adds that the international human rights institutions in Afghanistan have not acted responsibly and have not performed their role properly so far. According to him, if the institutions involved in the matter of Afghanistan had responsibility and performed their duties and roles, the country could have a different image today.

On the other hand, Mohibullah Tayeb, the advisor and head of human rights at the Embassy and Permanent Representation of Afghanistan in Switzerland, told Hasht-e Subh that Human Rights Watch in alignment with several human rights organizations has repeatedly called on the International Criminal Court to intervene and investigate violations of international humanitarian laws and human rights in Afghanistan.

Mr. Tayeb adds that Afghanistan is a member of the International Criminal Court, but after the recent events and serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, this court has not fulfilled its responsibilities toward Afghanistan. He emphasizes that the permanent representative of Afghanistan in Geneva also wants the respective institution to start a comprehensive investigation of the violations of human rights in Afghanistan as soon as possible.

The head of the human rights department of the permanent representation of Afghanistan in Geneva notes: “During the 51-round meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council, we are trying to create a monitoring solution for Afghanistan to work closely with the special rapporteur for human rights so as to better document violations of international humanitarian and human rights. in Afghanistan.” According to him, the creation of this solution will help the International Criminal Court to collect documents and examine the cases of all human rights violators.

Karim Khan, one of the prosecutors of the International Criminal Court, had requested the initiation of an investigation into human rights crimes in Afghanistan about a month ago. He had called the judgment of this court important for ensuring justice in Afghanistan and had said that the Taliban will never consider justice in this country, adding that this investigation should focus on the crimes of the Taliban and the ISIS group. According to this prosecutor, the crimes that have been committed against former security forces of Afghanistan and the Americans should be prioritized for possible investigation by the respective court.

Meanwhile, the National Resistance Front has said that the Taliban have shot about 2,299 civilians in 29 provinces of the country in the past year, including former soldiers, women, and children. The front in the report has claimed that forced displacement, insulting and humiliating people, desecration of citizens by the Taliban, exposure to killing and torture of former security forces and people affiliated with the Afghan Defense Forces, women and civil society activists, usurpation of property and blackmail have turned to the daily routine of the Taliban rebels across the country.

Similarly, documentaries published show that the Taliban have been continuously accused of massive human rights violations and war crimes in the past year. The Taliban show Taliban rebels in action like shooting, torturing, beating, burning down private properties, performing field trials, and many other cases in the fields of war and remote areas of the country.

Considering this situation, the special rapporteur of Human Rights Watch has described the current situation in Afghanistan as critical.

On Monday, September 12, the Taliban captured and shot eight guerrillas of the National Resistance Front in the Khinj district of Panjshir. On Tuesday, September 13, Taliban killed an aged tribal leader in connection to alleged affiliation with NRF. The Taliban also shot a former employee of the women’s department of the Ghazni prison on Sunday, September 11 in the Pashtun Abad area of ​​this city, and a former soldier in the Durahi area of ​​Kameh district of Nangarhar on the same day.

Similarly, on Friday night, September 9 Taliban shot dead a former security affiliate in the village of Awbi-Nowabad, Dasht Qala District, Takhar. A woman and a former commander of the National Movement were shot dead in Faryab province. A teenager was shot dead in the Sayed Khel district of Parwan this month. 4 people have been shot in Varsaj Takhar and Khost districts of Baghlan and Khan district of Panjshir during the months of August and September. In total, the Taliban have shot more than 20 innocent citizens in the past one month in different parts of the country.

In the past year, the Taliban, including the forces of the resistance front, have shot shepherds, farmers, and school teachers in the provinces of Panjshir, Baghlan, Takhar, and Balkhab district of Sar-e-Pol province, and their videotapes are widely circulated in social media. The National Resistance Front has also published a report saying that this group has shot more than 2,000 people in 29 provinces of the country in the past year.

The Taliban severely tortured a boy and a girl in public on Monday, September 12 in the Dawlatyar district of Ghor province. According to the Taliban court, each of them received 39 lashes. During the last one month, Taliban rebels in a different part of the country have beat up more than 10 people based on the verdict of the field court or have tortured them in public. The Taliban have been accused of conducting field trials many times before. In the latest case, a boy and a girl were shot dead in the Kuzkanar district of Nangarhar on September 12, who was previously captured by the Taliban, but it was said that they were killed by the girl’s family and the case was closed as honor killing.

Forced displacements and immigrations under the rule of the Taliban have turned into a matter of challenge. In its annual report, the National Resistance Front has claimed that during the past year, the Taliban have killed more than 7,000 families in the provinces of Takhar, Baghlan, Panjshir, Kapisa, Balkh, Ghazni, Balkhab district of Sar-e-Pol province, and Kandahar on the charges of cooperating with the National Resistance Front, membership in the ranks of the former security forces, opposition to the Taliban regime, and open ethnic discrimination, forced them to leave their houses and their properties have been seized as war booty. Several residents of Panjshir, who were forced to leave their villages and houses have confirmed this to Hasht-e Subh.

Hasht-e Subh has obtained information that those who are imprisoned in the 40-intelligence headquarters of the Taliban are being tortured severely on schedule. On Sunday, September 11, the sources said that the prisoners in the 40 headquarters of Taliban intelligence are being tortured three times a day instead of being served three times of meals and are continuously humiliated. Due to lack of accessible health services, some of these prisoners suffer from mental illnesses which is an addition to the misfortune of the prisoners.

As soon as the Taliban entered Kabul, the group closed the education doors to girls. Since then, the right to education, the right to work, and the freedom of women have been snatched away by the Taliban, and they have removed women from the public domain by imposing extensive restrictions. While, in the last 20 years, 3.7 million girls across the country have actively been attending school. But under the rule of the Taliban, girls from secondary to high school have been deprived of going to school.

During this period (past year), more than 80 protesting women have been arrested and tortured by the Taliban in the past year. Women’s protests have been severely suppressed and travel restrictions and mandatory burqa covering have been imposed on them. Recently, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur in the Human Rights Council of this organization, said that Afghanistan is the only country where rulers use women’s rights as leverage to negotiate on the table for gaining international favor. No nation on the earth has been witnessed locking their mothers and sister in cages and negotiating their rights for collecting funds, but Afghan rulers do so.

The Taliban recently set fire to 7 residential houses in the Pariyan district of Panjshir on Sunday, September 11. The Taliban rebels had previously set fire to several citizens’ houses in the villages of Gadara, Umraz, and Dowab. House-to-house inspection is another challenge imposed on the people by the Taliban in the past year. The citizens of the country consider a door-to-door attempt to be an insult to them, but out of necessity, they even have to reveal their most private belongings such as women’s dresses in front of the Taliban to be checked.

However, Human Rights Watch, the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan, and several other organizations active in the field of human rights have called for war crimes and human rights violations to be addressed in Afghanistan, while the investigation of the International Criminal Court in this country has been stopped for more than two years.

In March 2020, the former government of Afghanistan submitted a request to suspend the investigation; But after the Taliban took over, Human Rights Watch said that it has documented many war crimes and has requested the International Criminal Court to take action.

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