Afghan Citizen Executed In Iran
The Haalvsh Human Rights Organisation reported that the Islamic Republic of Iran has executed an Afghan prisoner in Mashhad's Vakilabad Public Prison.
The Haalvsh Human Rights Organisation reported that the Islamic Republic of Iran has executed an Afghan prisoner in Mashhad's Vakilabad Public Prison.
The organisation said on Monday that the man's death sentence was carried out in secret without the knowledge of his family.
The Afghan prisoner was arrested in 2019 on drug-related charges, the Haalvsh Human Rights Organisation said in the statement.
The Afghan man has been identified as "Nesar Ahmad Rahmati" and had been transferred from the general ward to solitary confinement on Sunday.
No information has yet been released about the trial and prison conditions of these Afghans, and so far, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iranian state media have not commented on the execution.
On Sunday, the Iran Human Rights Organisation (IHR) announced the execution of 14 prisoners, including two Afghans, in Shiraz Central Prison.
The Taliban in Herat has called hundreds of books in various fields in the province's libraries "undesirable" and sealed them.
According to a list compiled by the Taliban, these books are mainly written in the fields of literature, history, human rights, constitution, democracy, and the Shia sect.
A copy of these lists has been obtained by Afghanistan International.
The Taliban has called books "undesirable" in the library of the Ahmad Shah Massoud Cultural Foundation, the library of Amir Ali Sher Nawai Women's High School, and the library of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Ghori High School.
It is said that these libraries belong to the education department of Herat province.
These books in various fields such as politics, human rights, history, literature, culture, religion, and Shiite sect are mainly written in Persian.
According to the lists prepared by the Taliban, the group's officials, under the name of the "Supervisory Board of Libraries of Schools in Herat Province", have deemed these books "undesirable".
At the end of the lists, the Taliban delegation wrote that the books have been handed over to the head of the libraries "until further notice”.
The Taliban has also attached pictures to the list that show that the bookshelves in these libraries have been sealed.
According to the list, the Taliban have sealed 667 titles of books in only three libraries in Herat. Sources said that the Taliban's surveillance and censorship goes beyond public libraries.
In the list published by the Taliban, at least three books by Abdul Latif Nazari, the Taliban's deputy minister of economy, can also be seen.
These books have been written by Nazari under the titles of "Citizenship Rights in Afghanistan", "The Concept of Democracy", and "Globalisation and Security in the Middle East". The Taliban has also called the Pashto translations of Nazari's works "undesirable" and sealed them.
After returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban began efforts to censor and remove books containing content that contradicts the group's ideology and strict interpretation of religion.
The Taliban's actions to restrict citizens' access to books come as a result of increasing restrictions on publishers, sellers, and importers of books.
In May this year, the Taliban's Ministry of Information and Culture announced that the "Book Evaluation Commission" had reviewed 20 books in a meeting and had not granted publication licences to some of them.
Mahajer Farahi, the Taliban's deputy minister of information and culture, also said that the group would prevent the publication of books that are against "Islamic values and traditions of Afghan society”.
Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education announced that the United Nations intends to recognise gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
Brown called the Taliban's restrictions on women and girls the most severe violation of girls' rights in the world.
"Adolescent girls are deprived of education and basic freedoms of life, and the United Nations intends to recognize it as gender apartheid," he said at a news conference.
The former British prime minister and UN special envoy for global education continued that many organisations are currently supporting Afghan girls by providing online education and scholarships.
The UN official also called on all countries, especially Muslim countries, to unite and call for an end to the oppression of girls in Afghanistan.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has banned girls' education in schools and universities.
The Taliban's Supreme Court in Faryab announced that a woman was flogged in public on charges of extramarital affairs and running away from home.
The Taliban’s court said in a statement on Monday that the woman had been sentenced to 30 lashes and six months in prison.
In a statement issued on Monday, the Taliban's Supreme Court said that the flogging sentence was carried out based on the decision of the Faryab Province Court of Appeal.
It is said that this woman was punished in the presence of Taliban officials and a large number of people.
After regaining control of Afghanistan, the Taliban has repeatedly punished individuals on various charges in public.
Human rights organisations consider corporal punishment of individuals to be contrary to international law and human dignity and call for an end to it.
The Taliban spokesman announced that the leaders and members of ISIS-K have been transferred from Afghanistan to Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan with the help of intelligence agencies.
Zabihullah Mujahid said that ISIS-K has training centres in these provinces of Pakistan.
Mujahid said in a statement on Monday, that the group's special unit arrested the perpetrators of the attack on the employees of the General Directorate of Prosecution and Supervision of Orders and Judgments (formerly the Prosecutor's Office) by launching operations in Kabul and Nangarhar.
"After ISIS was eliminated by special units," Mujahid said, the group's leaders and remaining members of ISIS-K were transferred to Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa "with the help of some intelligence agencies", where they have training centres.
The Taliban spokesman said that ISIS-K "carries out attacks from these new centres both in Afghanistan and other countries, as well as target religious scholars and members of religious, and political groups in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and in some cases, use them for their sinister purposes”.
Previously, Pakistan has always accused the Taliban government of harbouring terrorist groups such as ISIS and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), but this time the Taliban has accused Pakistan.
The Taliban spokesman's statement said that the detained ISIS members were also involved in other attacks, including attacks on foreign tourists in Bamiyan. Among them was a Tajik citizen who was planning a suicide attack, the statement said.
The Taliban spokesman said that the group's forces also killed two ISIS members in Faryab and Kabul.
Asif Durrani, Pakistan's former representative to Afghanistan, said that about 6,000 TTP fighters are present in Afghanistan.
In an exclusive interview with Afghanistan International, he said that Pakistani Taliban leaders live in Kabul.
Asif Durrani stated that the Taliban is unfamiliar with the principles of diplomacy and therefore, do not respect diplomatic norms.
Durrani noted that he repeatedly called on the Taliban to open girls' schools, but Taliban officials said that they must first organise their government and only then, will they reopen the schools.
He also clarified that Taliban officials have not denied the presence of the TTP in Afghanistan, but have stated that they are managing the group.
Durrani stated that the Taliban has said that TTP members will be transferred to the central regions of Afghanistan.
The TTP is mainly based in provinces bordering Pakistan, such as Nangarhar, Kunar, Khost, Paktia and Paktika.
The former Pakistani representative added that half of the TTP members are in Pakistan and nearly 6,000 in Afghanistan, and the group's leadership lives in Kabul.
Durrani also said that some TTP forces are active in Khost province and the border areas of the two countries.
He called on the Taliban to hand over the TTP members to Islamabad so that they can be treated according to the laws of this country.
After the Taliban's return to power, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has taken on a new lease of life. In the past two years, the group's attacks have increased by nearly 70 percent.
The group has carried out sophisticated attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan on the Pakistani army and security institutions, killing and wounding dozens of Pakistani troops.