Videos obtained by the Hasht-e Subh Daily show that the Taliban killed several fighters loyal to Juma Khan Fateh, their disgruntled commander, in Darwaz and then desecrated their bodies. In one of the recordings, the person killed is seen to be an elderly, white-bearded man lying in a pool of blood, while a Taliban fighter stomps on the elderly man’s face with his feet. The videos also show Taliban fighters desecrating the body of Hasib Panjshiri, one of the senior commanders of the National Resistance Front (NRF), who was killed in an ambush by the group in northern Salang. In the footage, Taliban fighters are seen grabbing his hair and dragging his body after killing him, while hurling insults at him. Some senior officials of the former government, including the former attorney general, have described the Taliban fighters’ desecration of the bodies of those killed as a clear violation of human dignity and international humanitarian law, and have called for these incidents to be documented and investigated as war crimes.
The Taliban’s treatment of the bodies of those killed has drawn widespread reactions in recent days. Videos related to Juma Khan Fateh’s fighters in Nusay district of Badakhshan and the body of Hasib Panjshiri, one of the senior commanders of Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front, have triggered a wave of criticism against the Taliban. Citizens of the country, along with political and civil society activists, have described the Taliban’s actions as amounting to war crimes, saying that the desecration of the bodies of those killed violates all standards of warfare and morality, and that the Taliban adhere to no code or principle.
Sources also say that Juma Khan Fateh’s forces were killed by the group’s southern fighters in the Dalwakh area after the fighting had ended and the Taliban had announced a ceasefire. According to these sources, the leader of the group of men killed was a person named Nasim, the son of Juma Khan’s maternal uncle. Some local Taliban members have also confirmed this claim, saying that the men in question were killed after the group’s fighters had already announced a ceasefire.
One source said: “There were people who surrendered. They dropped a bomb on them first and then killed them. These people had called out that they were surrendering and were not firing. They had received word of Juma’s surrender.”
The desecration of the dead by Taliban fighters has provoked widespread reactions among the country’s citizens on social media. Political, civil society, and human rights activists have strongly condemned the Taliban’s actions, emphasizing that the fighters’ conduct runs contrary to all moral, humanitarian, and Islamic values, and does not fall within the bounds of the laws of war either.
Many others have characterized the Taliban’s treatment of the dead as ethnically motivated, saying that any faction or group that rises to challenge the Taliban’s ethnic dominance faces this kind of humiliation and disrespect. They have warned that this Taliban conduct is highly dangerous and creates the conditions for a cycle of revenge.
Farid Hamidi, the former attorney general under the previous administration, wrote in response to the desecration of the bodies of those killed by Taliban fighters: “Human dignity is a divine gift that endures even after death and applies equally to all human beings, regardless of race, religion, language, ethnicity, and nationality. Disrespecting the dead and prisoners of war is an act contrary to human morality and a clear violation of Islamic principles and international law, including the Geneva Conventions.”
Mr. Hamidi wrote: “Desecrating bodies and insulting the dead represents the height of ignorance and moral collapse. Recent videos from Badakhshan, Badghis, and Salang show that this crime against humanity has been committed on a wide scale by the official forces of the Taliban administration. The officials, perpetrators, and those responsible who have remained silent in the face of these crimes bear equal responsibility. War, too, has its ethics, rules, and regulations. All warring parties must abide by these rules. Treating the dead in a manner contrary to human dignity is a sign of ignorance.”
Mujib-ur-Rahman Rahimi, spokesman for the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) of the former government, wrote in response to the Taliban’s actions: “Mutilating and desecrating bodies is the conduct of polytheists and belongs to the age of ignorance.” He emphasized that the images and videos released from the recent fighting in Badakhshan show conduct that is clearly at odds with these principles.
Mr. Rahimi wrote: “Kicking bodies, placing a foot on the face of a killed elderly man and filming it, as well as the degrading treatment of the body of Commander Hasib Panjshiri, including pulling his hair and toying with his corpse. Such conduct cannot be justified in the name of Islam.”
Halim Fidai, the former governor of Logar province under the previous administration, wrote in response to the treatment of the body of Hasib Panjshiri: “The case of Hasib Panjshiri’s body should be documented and investigated by international institutions as an instance of a violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime. Under international humanitarian law, insulting, desecrating, mutilating, or engaging in any degrading treatment of the bodies of those killed during war is prohibited. Article 34 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions specifies that the remains of war victims must be handled with respect.”
Mr. Fidai wrote: “Furthermore, Rule 113 of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)’s Customary International Humanitarian Law prohibits any desecration, mutilation, or insult to bodies. In addition, Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) classifies insulting and degrading conduct against human dignity as constituting a war crime; legal interpretations of this article also extend to the desecration of victims’ bodies.”
Videos of Taliban desecration of the bodies of those killed have been released repeatedly in the past as well. Over the past five years, the Taliban have consistently insulted and desecrated the bodies of those who fought against them after killing them.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
واکنشها به بیحرمتی به اجساد کشتهشدهگان؛ این اقدام طالبان بهعنوان جنایت جنگی بررسی شود
