2023-06-08 01:01:00
- The civilian population, object of torture and unlawful killings; detainees, subjected to extrajudicial executions.
Mass arbitrary arrests and detentions designed to intimidate the local population.
“Thousands of people are being dragged down by the continued oppression of the Taliban.” – Agnes Callamard
The Taliban have committed the collective punishment war crime against the civilian population of the Afghan province of Panjshir. This was stated by Amnesty International in a new report made public today.
The report, titled ‘Your Sons Are In The Mountains’: The Collective Punishment of Civilians in Panjshir by the Talibandocuments serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, such as extrajudicial killings, torture, and mass arrest and detention.
After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, members of the former Afghan government security forces fled to Panjshir with equipment and weapons, joining the National Resistance Front. In response, the Taliban have retaliated against the captured fighters, attacking the civilian population of Panjshir to force them to submit and do their bidding.
“In Panjshir, the Taliban’s cruel tactic of targeting civilians on suspicion of their affiliation with the National Resistance Front is causing widespread suffering and fear,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
“The list of war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Taliban in Panjshir is very long: extrajudicial killings, torture, hostage-taking, unlawful detention and burning of civilian houses. Each individual act is abhorrent, and this conduct together constitutes collective punishment: a war crime in itself.”
“Thousands of people are being swept up in the continuing Taliban oppression, which is clearly intended to intimidate and punish. Deliberate Taliban Targeting of Civilians Must Stop Immediately”.
During the current crackdown, the Taliban have carried out arbitrary arrests of entire villages, in which they have detained without charge all adult men and older boys and have subjected them to beatings and other abuses. They have also imposed the only nighttime curfew in all of Afghanistan, confiscated civilian homes and restricted herders’ access to their traditional grazing lands.
Although many of the actions undertaken by the Taliban forces alone constitute war crimes, the totality of these actions – added to the arbitrary arrests and restrictions imposed on the civilian population – also constitute the collective punishment war crime.
Amnesty International calls on the Taliban authorities to investigate the documented cases and to celebrate fair trials before ordinary courts when justified. However, as the Taliban have been unable and unwilling to carry out genuine investigations or hold members of their forces to account in fair trials, Amnesty International reiterates its call for the United Nations Human Rights Council to create an impartial and independent accountability mechanism that focuses on preserving evidence for future justice-related processes, both prosecutions and public reporting and follow-up.
Mass extrajudicial executions
The report documents several cases of mass extrajudicial executions of combatants of the National Resistance Front committed by the Taliban. In one case, in September 2022, at least six people – and possibly nine – were executed on a mountainside near Darea Hazara, part of Pochava township in Darah district.
He Amnesty International Crisis Response Program Testing Laboratory analyzed and verified five videos showing parts of the execution process. The first video shows members of the Taliban escorting six men with their hands tied behind their backs up a steep hillside. Interviewees identified the six as captured National Resistance Front fighters: Mohammad-u Din, Ishaq, Daniyar, Modir Ahmad, Amir Hatam and Mohammad Yar.
In subsequent videos, the detainees appear blindfolded, and behind them, up the hill, are positioned Taliban. The videos show several Taliban firing their weapons for 19 seconds, killing five men and causing several of their bodies to fall down the hill. The shooters are at least five men, using a combination of fully automatic kalashnikovs and bolt-action rifles, making it difficult to determine the exact number of shots fired.
Based on the direction of the sun and the shadows in the videos, the homicides likely took place shortly after sunrise, which is around 5:30 AM. Although the video clearly shows five men being shot and killed, a witness told Amnesty International that nine people died in that mass execution. Witnesses later said the names of the other three victims were Feroz, Torabaz and Shah Faisal.
Unlawful detention, torture and other ill-treatment
In at least three cases, the Taliban tortured civilians to death those they had detained in Bazarak and Rokha districts in Panjshir province. The men were farmers and ranchers who operated according to the traditional rules that allowed the animals to be sent to the mountains in summer. They believed they had permission from the local Taliban authorities to access the areas set aside for it.
Two of the victims, Noor Mohammad and Ghulam Ishan, were residents of Darah district, and were tortured in Rokha district while searching for their cattle in October 2022. The third man, Abdull Muneer Amini, was arrested in the district on the who lived, Bazarak, in June 2022. Videos and photos taken after their bodies were recovered were posted on social media and privately sent to Amnesty International. All three bodies showed extensive signs of torture, including large bruises likely caused by severe blows, according to analysis by a forensic pathologist consulted by Amnesty International.
The Taliban have also repeatedly arrested and detained older civilian men and boys on suspicion of being affiliated with the National Resistance Front. Up to 200 people have been arrested at one time. These arrests took place mostly in Darah, Abshar and Khenj districts between May and August 2022, some during mass detentions of an entire village in some places, and others in specific homes where families whose members the Taliban suspected lived. who had joined the National Resistance Front.
The arrest of family members to induce combatants to surrender constitutes hostage taking, and it is a war crime. Detainees were held in Taliban custody for varying lengths of time, ranging from hours to months.
In one case, in Darah district, a man said the Taliban had detained his father in their village in June 2022, in an attempt to find the man in question and his brothers, whom the Taliban suspected had joined the National Resistance Front.
The man told Amnesty International: “[Los talibanes] they took my father at one in the afternoon […] They took him to the mosque, and there they removed the blindfold from his eyes. […] They made him sit on a mattress […] There they began to ask him: ‘Where are your children? It is said that your children are in the mountains.’”
The arrest of relatives of suspected National Resistance Front fighters, the mass detention and detention of civilians, and the torture and unlawful killings of herdsmen are examples of the Taliban’s campaign of collective punishment against civilians in Panjshir. Other Taliban intimidation tactics documented in the report include the long-term destruction and confiscation of civilian property, and restrictions on the movement of civilians.
Need for accountability
The people of Afghanistan have endured crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations and abuses with hardly any accountabilityboth before and after August 2021. The lack of a credible internal infrastructure of accountability means that evidence of these crimes is in grave danger of disappearing or being destroyed.
International Amnesty calls again on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent international accountability mechanism for Afghanistan, with a mandate to monitor the situation and publicly report on it, and to collect and preserve evidence for future international justice. Amnesty International is also calling for the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan to be given full resources, and for UN member states and the International Criminal Court to use this evidence to carry out full investigations into all parties to the conflict.
“Those who have suffered atrocities in Panjshir, and indeed all victims of Taliban crimes committed in Afghanistan, deserve an end to impunity and a clear path to justice, truth and reparation,” he said. Agnes Callamard.
“It is essential that an independent international accountability mechanism be created, focused on the collection and preservation of evidence to hold all those suspected of being criminally responsible for their actions.”
Methodology
For the report, Amnesty International interviewed 29 people from Panjshir. In all cases, the people interviewed asked that their names not be used, as they feared reprisals from the Taliban.
Amnesty International conducted publicly-sourced research into material available on social media, analyzing 61 photos and videos, some of which were posted online and others provided privately by witnesses using secure transfer channels. Many of the videos were probably filmed by members of the Taliban.
On May 25, 2023, Amnesty International requested an official response from the Taliban on the cases documented in the report. At press time, the Taliban had not responded.
FIN
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