Taliban Court Sentences Former Panjshir Provincial Council Chief To 12 Years In Prison

Esmail Baghaei once again called the shooting of Afghans on the Iranian border as "baseless news".

During a press conference on Monday, November 4, the official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced, "The Afghan authorities issued a statement on this matter. "We are surprised and unhappy that there was an absence of news and that some Afghan officials have taken this baseless news seriously."

Haalvsh, a human rights organisation that reports on Sistan and Baluchestan region, first reported the shooting of Afghan migrants on Sunday evening, October 13, in the Kalgan-Saravan area. The news sparked global reactions.

According to the organisation, Iranian border forces in Saravan opened fire on a group of 300 Afghan migrants who were trying to enter Iran, killing and wounding dozens.

Two weeks after the publication of these reports, the Taliban confirmed the incident, announcing that two dead bodies and 34 injured in the deadly shooting and explosion of mines on the Iranian border had been transferred to Afghanistan.

The Taliban also noted that a number of other victims of the incident are in Iran and Pakistan, and that the group is trying to transfer them to Afghanistan.

According to sources, Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azimi had previously protested against the Taliban's restrictions on Ashura ceremonies.

Sources said that Mohammad Akbari, the former head of the Ulema Council of the town of al-Mahdi Jibril and the head of the Al-Yasin Seminary, and Hossein Azimi, the former head of the relations between the Council of Ulema Jibril and the Imam of the Sayyid al-Shuhada Mosque.

Sources said that the Taliban summoned the two Shia clerics to the police headquarters in Herat on Saturday evening, November 2, but halfway through the road, they got Akbari and Azimi out of the car and arrested them.

According to sources, it is not clear where the Taliban transferred the two clerics and their fate is not known.

Sources said that a number of clerics went to the office of the Taliban governor on Sunday to demand the release of the two clerics, but the Taliban governor replied that the group's Office for the Promotion of Virtue had filed a complaint against Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azmi for disobeying the orders of this office.

According to sources, the clerics then approached the Taliban's Office for the Promotion of Virtue in Herat, but Taliban officials there said that they had not filed a complaint against the two clerics.

Sources said that it is not clear which Taliban administration has the custody of Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azimi.

‘Disputes Over Celebration of Ashura In Jibril’

Some sources from Herat said that the two clerics are influential figures in Herat. According to the information received, this year, Akbari and Azimi took a "serious and decisive" stance and asked the Taliban's Office for the Promotion of Virtue not to prevent the holding of Ashura in Herat.

In July of this year, during the Ashura celebrations, the Taliban suppressed mourning gatherings in various cities of Afghanistan, especially in Herat.

During the dispute over the celebration of Ashura, at least one Shiite youth was killed by Taliban forces in the town of Jibril and a number of others were arrested.

Meanwhile, the Taliban governor's press office in Herat said in a statement on Monday that a number of Shia clerics had met with Noor Mohammad Islam Jar, the Taliban's governor in Herat. The statement said that the clerics shared their "challenges and problems" with the Taliban governor.

Our sources said that one of the main topics of the meeting was the attempt to free Mohammad Akbari and Hossein Azimi from the Taliban's prison.

The court said in a statement Monday that the individuals had been convicted of extramarital sex.

In a statement issued on Monday, November 4, the court said that a woman and a man were flogged in the courtyard of the municipality of Farkhar district of Takhar province.

On Monday morning, the Taliban's Supreme Court also announced the execution of another woman in the Kuz Kunar district of Nangarhar province on charges of "running away from home”.

A recent UNAMA report shows that the group has flogged 95 men and 16 women across Afghanistan on various charges in the past three months.

Corporal punishment carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan is not limited to flogging.

Recently, the Taliban's Supreme Court announced that since August 2021, five people have been executed in the country, and 30 more death sentences are awaiting final approval by the group's leader.

According to the Taliban's court ruling in Kuz Kunar district of Nangarhar province, the woman was flogged 39 times in public for "running away from home”.

The Taliban's Supreme Court said that the woman was flogged in the presence of a number of Taliban officials, mullahs, and the public.

The Taliban's court statement said that the group's mullahs spoke about the "value of hudud and punishment" after the woman was flogged.

The United Nations political mission announced in its quarterly report last week that the Taliban have handed out corporal punishment to 111 people, including 16 women, across Afghanistan in the past three months. UNAMA said that the Taliban flogged these individuals individually and sometimes in groups on various charges.

In a note on social media platform X, Abdul Mateen Qani wrote that this group of 100 people have been equipped with "advanced military equipment”.

The Taliban official wrote on Sunday, November 3, that this mobile motorcycle group will operate round the clock.

Qani stated that the purpose of forming this mobile group is to prevent criminal activities.

According to details provided by the Taliban's Interior Ministry spokesman, the 100-member mobile group is operating in the security districts of Faizabad city and other districts of Badakhshan province.