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KABUL: The Human Rights Watch claims that Taliban torture the people they keep in their prisons.
Patricia Gossman, head of the body’s Asia office, said Monday that the militants are running secret prisons for a long time in the areas under their control.
“We provided details about the prisons run by Taliban. We interviewed former prisoners and Taliban fighters who confirmed punishments to force prisoners for confession. Sometimes, people witnessed the execution of people related to the government. Such prisons have been run in the Taliban-controlled areas for long times,” Gossman said.
The prisoners held in Taliban custody are deprived of advocate, they are beaten up, threatened to death and some of them die under torture for confession. These issues cause concern in the international human rights bodies.
Taliban reject reports of running prisons.
“We don’t have any secret prisons to torture prisoners. Everything is carried out under sharia law in the prisons and people are imprisoned after court trial. Military people who are arrested are also held in prison after being judged. The reports of beating up of the prisoners are false,” said Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
Earlier the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a report about the situation in the prisons and detention centers run by the government of Afghanistan. The report called situation there disagreeable.
The report was said to have been provided based on interview with 656 prisoners in 63 prisons and detention centers in 24 out of 34 provinces.
It also claimed tortures in the government-run prisons, but said the rate of torture has reduced comparing to the years of 2017 and 2018.
The ministry of interior said in response that efforts had increased to prevent torture in prisons.
The government-run prisons often witness strikes and riots. The latest case was in the Pol-e-Charkhi central jail in Kabul in which four prisoners were killed.
The reason of riot was not clear, but some prisoners said it happened among other inmates.
