Ariana: Ireland claimed their first test victory when they beat fellow minnows Afghanistan by six wickets on Friday in a one-off match in Abu Dhabi after skipper Andy Balbirnie took charge in the run chase with an unbeaten half-century. Click here to read more (external link).
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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 29, 2024
ISLAMABAD — The United Nations is urging the Taliban government in Afghanistan to immediately cease “inhuman” public executions and floggings of individuals convicted of murder and other crimes.
The condemnation comes as Taliban authorities put to death three men by gunfire in Afghan sports stadiums across several cities in the past week in the presence of hundreds of onlookers.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Office, or OHCHR, said that it was “appalled” by the public executions, decrying them as “a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The Taliban have publicly executed five convicted killers since they seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021 and have also flogged hundreds of people, including women, for committing crimes such as theft, robbery, and adultery.
The U.N. statement noted that the latest public floggings took place this past Sunday when a 12-year-old boy and a man were publicly flogged for the crime of immorality in eastern Laghman province. On the same day, a woman and a man convicted of running away from home and adultery were flogged 35 times in public in northern Baluch province.
“Corporal punishment also constitutes a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which is prohibited under international human rights law,” the U.N. cautioned.
It urged the fundamentalist Taliban to ensure full respect for due process and fair trial rights, in particular access to legal representation, for anyone confronted with criminal charges.
De facto Afghan authorities have dismissed criticism of their criminal justice system, saying it is aligned with Islamic rules and guidelines.
The Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women’s rights to education and public life, barring female visitors from parks and gyms and forbidding girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade.
The international community has rejected the Taliban’s calls for granting their administration formal recognition, citing their treatment of Afghan women and other human rights concerns.
Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, will unveil the findings of his new report at Thursday’s U.N. Human Rights Council meeting.
In an apparent preemptive reaction to the upcoming report, chief Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Bennett and other Western critics should stop “misusing” the Afghan human rights situation and instead focus on and stop rights abuses elsewhere in the world.
8am: With the fall of the previous government and the return of the Taliban group to power, the pace of holding international conferences on Afghanistan has accelerated. These conferences have aimed to attempt better engagement with the Taliban. If the world did not intend to engage with the Taliban, it would not have devoted all its efforts to holding conferences that have mostly been fruitless. Many of these conferences have been regional, with regional countries and Afghanistan’s neighbors participating, discussing the transition from a purely Taliban regime to a mixed system. Some conferences have been international, with major world powers from the East and West, including the United Nations, coming together to negotiate a way out of the current impasse in Afghanistan. Representatives from Afghanistan, sometimes from the Taliban and sometimes from anti-Taliban forces, have attended these conferences. However, some conferences have been held in the absence of both sides. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: Hamid Reza Hossaini, an Afghanistan national futsal player, has joined Saudi Arabia’s Al Tai FC team. Hossaini, who has played in the Under 20 team and the national team, will join Al Tai FC in the second half of Saudi’s Futsal Premier League. Click here to read more (external link).
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Khaama: The ambassador and special representative of Iran for Afghanistan stated that it is planned for the border blockade of that country with Afghanistan to be in the form of a concrete wall. Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s special representative for Afghanistan, in an interview with the Iranian news agency ISNA regarding the issue of physical blockade of the border between Iran and Afghanistan, said that studies are underway on how to physically block the border. This Iranian diplomat reminded us that the border blockade with Afghanistan is not solely due to preventing the entry of illegal immigrants and combating human and drug trafficking, etc. He said, “Considering that the enemies of the people are seeking to strike us in various ways, including through the mobilization of proxy terrorist forces, we are not necessarily confronted with the demarcated borders of the two countries but with various terrorist elements at the border, which are supported by major powers that currently use both soft and hard power simultaneously to strike at us; therefore, we must take our border security and control more seriously.” Click here to read more (external link).
8am: The Hasht-e Subh Daily received confirmation on Wednesday, February 28, that the Taliban conducted the detentions in the past week, targeting residents from the villages of Dor-Khil and Marashthan in Rokha district. The apprehended individuals were subsequently transported to Kabul. Among the three detainees whose identities have been disclosed are Rahmatullah, Atiqullah, and Rouhullah, while the fourth individual remains unidentified. The motive behind the detention remains unclear at this point. However, since their resurgence in the region, the Taliban have consistently detained numerous Panjshir residents, subjecting them to imprisonment, and, in some instances, execution. Click here to read more (external link).
8am: Last Thursday, the Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that they had executed two individuals publicly on charges of murder at the Ghazni football stadium. The public execution of these two individuals, witnessed by thousands, has provoked widespread domestic and international reactions. However, findings from the Hasht-e Subh Daily indicate that the public execution of one of these two individuals in Ghazni was carried out for revenge. Sources suggest that this person was executed by the Taliban court for killing a Taliban militant seven years ago, who attempted to sexually assault the wife of his brother. Sources state that Sayed Jamal, thereafter, killed a Taliban militant who had gone to his brother’s house at night and attempted to sexually assault his brother’s wife. A resident of Sayedabad district, Maidan Wardak province, confirmed to the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the incident of the militant’s killing by Sayed Jamal dates back to seven years ago. According to this local source, when a Taliban militant attempted to assault Sayed Jamal’s brother’s wife, Sayed Jamal attacked him with a knife and killed him. Click here to read more (external link).
Ariana: In a meeting with senior military officials, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu called Afghanistan the “biggest threat” to the countries of Central Asia and said that the situation in Central Asia is still complicated. He said in the last year, the number of Daesh fighters in Afghanistan has increased by 15 percent. Shoigu added that Daesh seeks to spread extremist ideas in Central Asia and tries to carry out subversive activities along the southern borders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and it must be stopped. About two weeks ago, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev claimed that there are at least 20 terrorist organizations and more than 23,000 fighters in Afghanistan and that the United States is responsible for the current difficult situation in Afghanistan. Click here to read more (external link).