With the government doing nothing as local Taleban commanders deliver Taleban-era justice in western Afghanistan with impunity, tribal leaders and other armed individuals have been emboldened to join in.
With the government doing nothing as local Taleban commanders deliver Taleban-era justice in western Afghanistan with impunity, tribal leaders and other armed individuals have been emboldened to join in.On April 20, unidentified armed men who could be Taleban cut off a hand and foot of two residents of Rubat Sangi district in Herat province for “having a hand in robberies”.
The two were admitted to the Herat Regional Hospital. Mohammad Rafiq Sherzoy, administrative manager of the hospital, told Killid: “These two individuals are from Torghondi town of Herat. They were in the custody of Taleban for 25 days. Finally, one hand and one foot of each person was cut by the Taleban, and they were released.”
The two men, who did not want their identities revealed, say the Taleban targeted them because they are members of a private security agency. They want justice: the government should arrest the guilty.
However, General Abdul Hamid Hamidi, Herat police security head, believes the Taleban may have punished the men on suspicion of theft. But he added the police would conduct their own investigation into the case.
A few days later, on Apr 24, a young woman was convicted in Badghis province by a “desert court” – the mock courts that dispense extra-judicial justice.
The local council in Koksail village in the province’s Ab Kamari district sentenced the woman to death for fleeing her marital home with a man, according to Mirawais Mirzakwal, head of the provincial governor’s media office. “The woman escaped from the village but later she was arrested by her father in law and was convicted to death,” he said.
According to independent reports, she was shot to death by her father in front of a large gathering of people in Koksail village.
The weakening of the government’s writ – because of growing insecurity, administrative corruption and lack of justice – has emboldened people to take justice delivery into their own hands. In the past two years there have been at least 10 cases of summary execution by “desert” courts.
Women bear the brunt
Last year in June there were spontaneous protests in many parts of the country to the news of the beheading of a young woman called Najiba in Shinwari district, Parwan. The Taleban claimed they had no hand in the killing, but enquiries conducted by a parliamentary committee confirmed Najiba had been killed because of rivalry between two Taleban commanders. The report was publicized on July 31.
Days before a couple, who were betrothed, was stoned to death in Mullah Quli village, Imam district of Kunduz province. District governor, Mohammad Ayoub, told reporters the Taleban had held the mock trial. The two – the woman was 23 years old and the man 28 years old – were “arrested” for “illegal” relations. People – mostly Taleban – carried out the punishment in the evening, the governor said.
President Hamid Karzai called it an “unforgivable crime”, in a statement released by his press office. The presidential spokesperson said the couple was killed even though they were engaged to be married.
Last year, a number of cases of Taleban-type justice were reported from areas under Taleban control in Ghore and Nimroz provinces.
In Nimroz, Taleban executed at least six people in Kasha Rod district for their links to the Afghan government and international forces.
District governor of Kash Rod, Mohammad Hashim Noorzai, said the killings provoked popular protest.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has expressed “serious” concern regarding these so-called “desert” courts in western Afghanistan. Rights activists would like the government to take on the Taleban.
