By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
September 15, 2022
The United Nations says it is “gravely concerned” by video that appears to show Taliban militants executing captured members of an Afghan resistance group.
The video, which has been shared widely on social media, shows two groups of men — allegedly from the National Resistance Front (NRF), a group operating mainly out of the Panjshir Valley — squatting on a hillside with their hands tied behind their backs before being shot with automatic rifles by Taliban fighters.
“Deeply concerned about latest allegations of extrajudicial summary executions in Panjshir. Reminding international human rights obligations of all parties, I call for immediate thorough investigation and for perpetrators to be held accountable. I am closely monitoring the situation,” Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur for Afghanistan, said in a statement on Twitter.
The AFP news agency quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying authorities were investigating the matter.
Early this week, the Taliban said it had killed at least 40 NRF fighters in the Panjshir Valley.
Sibghatullah Ahmadi, a spokesman for the NRF, called the killings “war crimes” and urged the UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to “fulfil its obligations of not only being ‘concerned’ but also gaining the courage to name the Taliban, condemn their crimes and call on the UN security council to take immediate action.”
UNAMA has accused the Taliban of committing hundreds of human rights violations since the militants seized power in August 2021 as international forces left the country.
With reporting by AFP
Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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