RASC News Agency: Habibullah Badr, Deputy Director of the Taliban’s Prison Affairs Administration, announced that 23,000 individuals are currently held in the country’s prisons, with over a thousand sentenced to amputation. Informed sources have revealed that a significant portion of these prisoners are of Tajik descent and have been incarcerated solely due to their ethnicity. Badr confirmed in a recent program that over a thousand people, (primarily Tajiks) from various regions of Afghanistan, particularly Panjshir, have been detained for alleged familial and regional ties with political opponents of the Taliban and sentenced to “amputation.” This comes amid repeated assertions from local sources and human rights observers that many of these individuals were arrested for political and ethnic reasons, rather than for actual criminal offenses.
He also stated that between 600 to 700 prisoners are sentenced to death, and 400 others are sentenced to retribution. Reports indicate that many of these convicts are also from Tajik and other non-Pashtun ethnic groups who oppose the ruling regime, and that their sentences are the result of discriminatory and retaliatory measures. Prison authority statistics reveal that the total number of detainees is 23,000, with 11,000 of them already convicted and 12,000 held without a formal sentence. Additionally, 1,000 Tajik women are among these prisoners, incarcerated for political and ethnic reasons. These women were arrested for alleged familial and regional connections to Taliban opponents and are being held in the country’s prisons without fair trial.
Badr confirmed that over a thousand individuals have been arrested for familial and regional ties to Taliban political opponents and remain incarcerated. However, independent sources assert that many of these prisoners were detained because they are Tajik and for their familial or regional connections to the opposition. Badr emphasized that any sentence issued in accordance with the group’s interpretation of law will be executed without hesitation. At the same time, Badr mentioned that three American citizens currently in custody are not held in this administration’s prisons, but noted that 150 foreign nationals are imprisoned in the country.
Meanwhile, human rights organizations have repeatedly expressed concern over the violations of human rights within the country’s prisons. Many Tajik citizens of Afghanistan, detained because of their ethnicity and ethnic affiliations, are facing the harshest forms of violence and unjust punishment. Previously, international organizations and the United Nations had warned of the resurgence of harsh laws and severe human rights violations in the prisons. The majority of these detainees, who are Tajiks, were arrested due to ethnic discrimination and pressure on the opposition, raising significant concerns within the global community and among the Afghanistani people.
