The two-minute footage was posted this week by the Pajhwok news agency and shows a group of men, including some in Afghan police and army uniforms, beating and kicking the man and dragging him behind a marked police vehicle.
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
March 9, 2016
Authorities in Afghanistan say they’re investigating the circumstances around a disturbing video clip that appears to show police officers taking part in the brutal torture of an alleged terror suspect.
The two-minute footage was posted this week by the Pajhwok news agency and shows a group of men, including some in Afghan police and army uniforms, beating and kicking the man and dragging him behind a marked police vehicle.
A police spokesman in Kandahar Province, Zia Durrani, told RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan the incident took place two years ago in the Maiwand district and two policemen were currently serving jail terms in connection with the case.
But it was unclear what happened to the suspect, who Durrani said was detained while trying to plant an explosive near a security checkpoint in the volatile southern province.
“Tie his hands and drag him,” one of the mob shouts before the vehicle drags him — hands tied behind his back — about 10 meters. They appear to be trying to force a confession. “Now do you admit it?” a male voice asks repeatedly.
The suspect, barefoot and clad in traditional Pashtun clothing, remains silent as the abuse continues before he is loaded into the back of the police truck.
“The suspect wasn’t a local man, he was a would-be bomber, but nevertheless police officers should not have behaved the way they did,” Durrani said. “We investigated this incident two years ago, when it happened.”
Pajhwok quoted Durrani as saying that a second suspect in the same abortive bombing had been killed in a firefight with police.
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry responded after the video’s posting by condemning the incident, which it acknowledged “is linked to police forces,” adding that it violated human rights and Islamic values.
Pajhwok quoted the chairman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission on March 9 as saying that the commission would also investigate.
The video on Pajhwok’s Facebook page has been viewed more than 170,000 times and drawn thousands of comments.