Taliban Appoints High-Level Delegation To Investigate Killing of Afghan Migrants in Iran

A Taliban spokesperson said that Sadr Ibrahim, the group’s deputy interior minister, is heading the delegation and representatives of the ministries of defence, foreign affairs, borders and intelligence are members of it.

Hamdullah Fitrat, the Taliban's deputy spokesman, said in a statement that the group's prime minister had asked the delegation to present the results of its investigation into the killing of Afghan refugees on the Iranian border as soon as possible.

The Taliban probe was announced after an Iranian rights group, known as Halvash, initially reported the alleged Afghan casualties, saying they occurred Sunday in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan border province near Kolgan Saravan area.

The organisation quoted survivors as saying that about 300 Afghan migrants were attempting to unlawfully enter Iran in the Kolgan Saravan region when they were assaulted by Iranian border guards, resulting in deaths and injuries.

Kolgan Saravan region is in Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran and borders with Panjgur region of Balochistan province of Pakistan. Apparently, the Afghan refugees intended to enter Iran through Pakistan.

Along with human smugglers, Baloch rebels also use this route to travel, and the Panjgur area is one of the areas where Baloch rebels have a large presence.

This is not the first time that Iranian forces shot at Afghan refugees at the border. Earlier, Amnesty International said in a report that Afghan migrants who wanted to go to safe countries through Iran and Turkey were shot dead by Iranian and Turkish border forces.

Taliban Stops Importing Poultry Meat To Afghanistan

Oct 17, 2024, 11:10 GMT+1

Nooruddin Azizi, the Taliban's Minister of Industry and Commerce, announced the suspension of poultry meat imports to Afghanistan. Azizi said that it was not clear whether the poultry meat that entered Afghanistan from Brazil was halal or haram.

According to the Taliban official, people used to consume Brazilian chickens "with scepticism”.

Afghanistan's national radio and television reported Thursday (October 17) that Nooruddin Azizi announced, "Our ulema and sheikhs have decided to completely stop importing chicken from neighbouring and distant countries to support domestic production."

According to the report, the Taliban's Minister of Industry and Commerce said at the opening ceremony of the Afghanistan Agricultural Products and Products Exhibition that chicken imports were stopped after this decision and now Afghanistan has reached self-sufficiency in poultry farming and related products.

According to him, "hundreds of thousands of people" are currently working in the poultry sector in Afghanistan.

Iranian Official Urges People To Report 'Unauthorised Nationals' To Police

Oct 17, 2024, 10:27 GMT+1

Iran's deputy police chief General Qassem Rezaei called on the public to report any gathering of "unauthorised nationals" to the police.

Rezaei said that it is illegal for "unauthorised nationals" to buy or rent a bank card, house or car.

Iran's Deputy Police chief General Qassem Rezaei said, "Due to the events that have taken place in our Muslim and friendly country, Afghanistan, in the past 40 years, a number of citizens of that country have migrated to our country to continue their lives. Some of these people have entered the country completely legally and they are our guests, and there is nothing wrong with that."

He added that some of these foreign nationals have entered Iran "illegally" and are working and living, and their actions are considered as crimes under the law.

Iran's deputy police chief stressed that any "unauthorised" employment of foreign nationals is a crime and that employers who give jobs to these nationals will definitely be dealt with judicially.

General Qassem Rezaei clarified that according to the new policies, "unauthorised nationals" must return to their country of origin and the police have also prepared the ground for their return. Wherever "unauthorised nationals" are found, he noted, the police are obliged to identify, collect and return them to the borders.

This comes as the Islamic Republic has increasingly increased the deportation of Afghan refugees. Official reports indicate that Iranian authorities are detaining hundreds of Afghan refugees and returning them to Afghanistan every day.

Taliban Publicly Flogs 10 People, Including Four Women, In Three Provinces

Oct 17, 2024, 09:09 GMT+1

The Taliban's Supreme Court announced that it had publicly flogged 10 people, including four women, in Khost, Kabul and Laghman provinces on charges of extramarital sex and same-sex relations.

The Taliban punished these individuals with 30 to 39 lashes. The Taliban's Supreme Court announced on Wednesday, October 16, that it had sentenced two men to 30 lashes for sexual relations in Tani district of Khost province.

According to a statement issued by the court, one of the individuals was sentenced to four years in prison and the other to three years in prison.

In another statement, the court announced that the flogging sentences of four people, including two women, were carried out by the Kabul Court of First Instance on charges of extramarital affairs.

The Taliban sentenced one of these individuals to six months in prison and the other three to one year in prison.

The Taliban's Supreme Court also said that it had sentenced four people, including two women, to 30 to 39 lashes in Mehtarlam city of Laghman province.
The Taliban said that they have punished the men on charges of robbery, extramarital affairs and running away from home.

A woman and a man were sentenced to three years in prison, another woman to six months and another man to two years in prison, according to the court's statement.

News About Death Of "Dozens" Of Afghan Refugees In Iran False, Says Special Envoy

Oct 16, 2024, 17:39 GMT+1

Kazemi Qomi, the Iranian president's special representative for Afghanistan affairs and the country's ambassador to Kabul, said, "The news about the death of dozens of illegal nationals at the Saravan border is not true."

Qomi said that he had followed up on this issue directly through reliable sources.

Kazemi Qomi wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday that the "legal" response to the "illegal entry of unauthorised nationals" is the legitimate right of countries and that the border guards of each country are obliged to prevent the entry of illegal nationals.

He wrote that the management of border traffic is a mutual responsibility, and that neighbouring countries have a duty to prevent the illegal passage of "suspicious elements" and unauthorised movement of their nationals, and to abide by international obligations in protecting their borders.

The ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran has written that Iran is determined to return unauthorised asylum seekers and to deal legally with their illegal entry at all border crossings. In this regard, he stressed, Iran is "acting lawfully, responsibly and based on a long-standing policy of good neighbourliness, Islamic compassion and commitment to the provisions of international treaties".

Taliban’s Leader Rejects Group’s Prominent Uzbek Commander’s Resignation

Oct 16, 2024, 15:02 GMT+1

Salahuddin Ayubi, the Taliban's Uzbek commander who recently resigned from his position as the group's police chief in Zabul, has returned to his job.

The Taliban's police command in Zabul said Ayubi also met with Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada in Kandahar. Sources said that the Taliban leader did not accept his resignation.

In a statement, Ayubi was referred to as the Taliban's police chief in Zabul, while he had announced on September 12 this year that he had resigned from membership in the Taliban.

Salahuddin Ayubi told Afghanistan International that he had resigned from the Taliban’s post for personal and family reasons.

Sources also confirmed that Ayubi has returned to his duties as the group's police chief in Zabul after meeting with Hibatullah Akhundzadeh.

According to a statement from the Taliban's police command in Zabul, Salahuddin Ayubi discussed the security situation in the province during his meeting with the Taliban leader.

He had previously defected from the Taliban due to dissatisfaction.

After the Taliban's return to power in 2021, Ayubi was appointed as the chief of staff of the 203rd Mansoori Corps in Paktia, but the Taliban removed him from this position.

Later, he was introduced as the Deputy Minister of Policy and Planning of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and was appointed as the police chief of Zabul Province in 2022.

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