War Crime and Genocide, 70 Prisoners Shot Dead in Panjshir by Taliban

According to the reports of local sources, the Taliban captured dozens of guerrilla fighters of the resistance front and several civilians in this province last week and then shot them dead. This act has provoked the anger of organizations active in the field of human rights. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan called the shooting of prisoners of war by the Taliban a “war crime” and asked the United Nations to intervene as soon as possible and stop this action by the Taliban.

Several human rights activists and citizens of the country describe this action of the Taliban as contrary to the principles and human values ​​and say that this action of the Taliban can be considered “a clear example of genocide, a war crime, and a crime against humanity”. According to local sources, the Taliban invaded Panjshir last week (September 13 and 14) with an army of several thousand people and first captured the people affiliated with the National Resistance Front, then tortured and shot them dead.

Hasht-e Sub Daily has obtained the list of people who have been shot by Taliban forces in Panjshir during the last week. According to this list, more than 70 people have been shot by the Taliban in Panjshir. In addition to the forces of the resistance front, this list also includes old men and civilians who were not affiliated with any resistance movement group.

Local sources in Panjshir told Hasht-e Subh that the Taliban had deployed thousands of fighters to this valley during the last week. After several days and nights of severe clashes, these fighters captured several resistance front forces as a group and shot them after torture. However, on September 13 and 14, more than three videotapes of arresting, torturing, and shooting resistance front forces by the Taliban were published on social networks. These tapes show Taliban fighters shooting prisoners of war and chanting “Allah Akbar”; While the hands of these captives were tied with a rope with no possibility for escape.

One of the videotapes that were recorded on Monday last week in the village of Shaba, of Khinj district of Panjshir, and in some areas of Abdullah Khel valley, shows that the Taliban are shooting prisoners of war and in some of these tapes, the faces of the prisoners can also be seen. A family member of Haji Malik Khan, the anti-Taliban commander, who refuses to mention his identity, confirmed to Hasht-e Subh that five members of his family, including commander Malik, were shot by the Taliban. According to this family member of Commander Malik, the Taliban first shot all the captives with their hands tied in front of the resistance front commander and then killed himself with a sniper.

Meanwhile, one of the senior officials of the National Resistance Front, while talking to Hasht-e Subh, claims that around 70 members of this front who had surrendered to the Taliban, were handcuffed, tortured, and shot by the Taliban in different parts of Panjshir.

However, the voice attributed to one of the assistants of Haji Farhad, the commander of the Taliban fighters in the “Darah” district of Panjshir, is circulating on virtual media pages and shows that he is communicating Haji Farhad’s instructions to other Taliban fighters through a radio. This Taliban war commander announces the arrest of nearly 100 prisoners of war and orders that these people should be shot. In this conversation, the Taliban commander still directs to separate five commanders of the resistance front from among the prisoners and kill the others.

Local sources say that the Taliban shot a 24-year-old man in the Rakheh district of Panjshir on Wednesday evening, September 14, after torturing him. According to residents, this young man’s name was Rahimdad and he was not affiliated with any resistance group. In two separate incidents, the Taliban arrested an old man and a prisoner of the National Resistance Front from the Amraz area of ​​Khinj district and then shot them dead. Earlier, three prisoners of the Resistance Front were shot on Tuesday, September 14, in the Pojavah area of ​​the Dara district. Similarly, the Taliban rebels shot Mohammad Yar, one of the commanders of the resistance front, with his two young sons on Monday, September 12. Mohammad Yar and his sons were captured by the Taliban from the Shaba camp of Khinj district and were shot in the evening of the same day in Dara district. Taliban rebels have published the shooting process filmed by themselves on social media.

The list of people who were captured by the Taliban and have been shot dead during the last week shows that the victims are 70 members of the resistance front and three civilians. This list is compiled based on information obtained from local sources. Sources in the National Resistance Front have also confirmed this list:

Mehrangiz Kar, an Iranian writer, a lawyer in exile, and a well-known human rights activist in conversation with Hasht-e Sub tells, “The Taliban are committing genocide. They are committing crimes against humanity and the world wants to deal civilly with this criminal group. The world reached very late to Rwanda, all those innocent people were killed. But it may even not reach Afghanistan. Millions of petitioners’ signatures need to be sent to the United Nations to make the world think about Afghanistan and discuss it meaningfully and practically.”

She further adds, “the same barbaric behavior was expected from the Taliban. But Afghanistan to be handed over to a tyrannical terrorist group’s control was not expected. What is happening in Afghanistan and with some differences in Iran has nothing to do with legal principles. It can be said that it is an ignorant move, at the opposite point of rights and civilization, which can be defined based on laws that are in line with international standards of human rights. According to him, the Taliban have realized the weaknesses of the western governments in these years and they do not care about the signed international conventions.

International Organizations’’ Reactions

The United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan have expressed concerns over the continuation of mass killings of prisoners and civilians. The Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that it is “deeply concerned about human rights violations in Panjshir and other parts” of the country. On Wednesday of last week, this political representation of the United Nations added in a tweet: “The parties have international obligations, which include the rights of prisoners.” The Office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, without naming the Taliban, has said that it is monitoring the situation and “wants the perpetrators of any crime to be brought to justice.”

Sibghatullah Ahmadi, the spokesperson of the Resistance Front, in response to the announcement of the United Nations Deputy Office in Afghanistan, said that despite the reliable documents that show the “terrible crimes” of the Taliban, this organization expressed its concern about the widespread violation of human rights in Panjshir without naming the Taliban.

The spokesperson of the resistance front called on the political representation of the United Nations in Afghanistan to have the courage to name the Taliban group concerning the commitment and mission of this organization in Afghanistan and to ask the United Nations Security Council to condemn the war crimes and crimes against humanity of the Taliban group. that immediate measures be taken to stop these crimes.

Naeem Nazari, head of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission, also called the killing of prisoners of war a “war crime” while talking to Hasht-e Subh and said that the Taliban have repeatedly proved that they do not commit to the principles of international humanitarian law, human rights criteria and standards.

The head of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission states that the Taliban have shot prisoners of war and have caused serious injuries to civilians in recent wars in Panjshir. He emphasizes: “Killing prisoners of war is a war crime; The parties to the war should not apply such approaches, but the Taliban recklessly have shot a large number of prisoners in Panjshir recently.” Mr. Nazari adds: “This behavior of the Taliban is condemned and rejected from the point of view of international humanitarian law and is considered a war crime. It can be tracked and does not include time and place review. It can be prosecuted at any point in time and in any part of the world, and the documentation of these behaviors should be shared with international institutions for documentation.

Amnesty International has asked the international community and the 50^th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva to create a clear and serious mechanism for the accountability of the Taliban and said that this council should make a decision urgently. Samira Hamidi, one of the officials of Amnesty International, speaking to Hasht-e Subh, said: “This organization is extremely concerned about the mass killing of people who are said to be affiliated with the resistance front and who were caught by the Taliban, tortured and killed catastrophically.”

Ms. Hamidi adds that this behavior of the Taliban shows that they have systematically committed human rights violations in the past year. According to her, this is not the first behavior of the Taliban, but Amnesty International’s findings and documents also make it clear that this group tortures and destroys anyone that is deemed to be a danger to the group’s survival.

An official of Amnesty International states: “The recent brutal killings of war prisoners by the Taliban is a war crime and we demand a serious investigation of this matter.” He emphasizes that the findings of this organization show that no matter how many human rights violations the Taliban have committed in the past year, there has been no accountability and no process to protect the victims, and this has caused this group to commit human rights violations and war crimes without any hesitation and fear of accountability.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has expressed concerns over the execution of the arrested people in Panjshir by the Taliban. Farishtah Abbasi, a researcher at the Afghanistan branch of Human Rights Watch, published a tweet that she reads as the organization’s point of view in a conversation with Hasht-e Subh, says: “We have alarming information about the execution of people arrested by the Taliban forces during the battle with the opposition forces Panjshir and other parts of the country.” She has stated that the field execution of captured fighters and civilians is a war crime and has asked the conflicting parties to respect international humanitarian law.

Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, also tweeted on Wednesday, September 14, that he is deeply concerned about the recent “unlawful executions” in Panjshir. Reminding all parties of international human rights obligations, he stressed: “I demand a complete, immediate investigation and accountability of its perpetrators.”

David Martinon, the French ambassador to Afghanistan, has also said that the Taliban have committed war crimes by killing prisoners of war in Panjshir. On Tuesday, September 13, he reposted a video of prisoners of war of the Resistance Front who was captured by the Taliban and said in a tweet: “The images are heartbreaking. “Taliban executed prisoners in Panjshir and by this, they committed war crimes.”

The Taliban, who have continuously declared the war in Afghanistan to be over and deny the physical presence of the resistance front in Afghanistan, admitted hours after the publication of videotapes that they have launched an operation in different parts of Panjshir.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of this group, said that their fighters launched a cleanup operation in different parts of Panjshir, as a result of which 40 resistance front forces were killed and 101 others were captured. But he did not mention the killing and shooting of prisoners of war.

This is even though according to the available reports, the Taliban have already shot more than 20 civilians in an attack on Abdullah Khel Valley in May 2022. According to the list of the victims of this incident that Hasht-e Subh has obtained, the Taliban shot more than 20 civilians in the Panjshir Valley district. Farmers, teachers, and school students were among those who were tortured and then shot by the Taliban. More than 15 other civilians were also injured in this incident.

Author: Amin Kawa – Senior Reporter and Analyst at Hasht-e Subh Daily