The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), has condemned the Taliban Supreme Court’s punishment sentences.
In a statement, the AIHRC said the group’s methods and sentences were against international law.
In a video statement posted on Twitter on Thursday, the Taliban Supreme Court’s deputy, Abdul Malek Haqqani, said that the court has issued 175 qisas, 37 stoning and four sentences of knocking down a wall on the convicts since the group’s return to power.
“This shocking decision and horrific group punishment clearly conflict with national and international laws and violate all human values and fair trial principles. The court must go through the three stages of investigation, trial, and post-trial. The defendants must have access to a defence lawyer, information, and other basic requirements for a fair trial.” The AIHRC said.
AIHRC further added that the commission “considers this type of secret trial far from the most basic principles of a fair trial to be a field trial and condemns it in the strongest terms. These behaviors can be registered as violations and collective crimes against human rights in the international courts.”
The commission said, the secret Taliban trials, in an absence of free trials, derive from the Taliban’s ideology that has turned a blind eye to the national and international law, and “cruel approaches” that the Taliban has imposed on the people of Afghanistan under the pretext of providing security to them.
AIHRC has called the Taliban’s decision “illegitimate” and the Taliban a “group imposed on the people” of Afghanistan, urging concerned organizations and the UN to pressurise the Taliban.
“The AIHRC calls on the United Nations and the international community to put pressure on the Taliban to prevent the implementation of this cruel decision and prevent more Afghan citizens from becoming victims.”
