Taliban Court Sentences Former Panjshir Provincial Council Chief To 12 Years In Prison
A Taliban military court in Kabul has sentenced Abdul Karim Abbasi, the former head of the Panjshir provincial council, to 12 years in prison.
A Taliban military court in Kabul has sentenced Abdul Karim Abbasi, the former head of the Panjshir provincial council, to 12 years in prison.
Sources said that the Taliban had accused Abbasi of "cooperating with the National Resistance Front" even though he was doing business after the fall of the previous government.
Sources told Afghanistan International that the Taliban first arrested Abbasi in April 2023 on unknown charges and released him on bail after two months. The group arrested Abbasi again in February of the same year and was given a military trial after months of imprisonment.
According to sources, Abdul Karim Abbasi is currently in Taliban custody at the Bagram Prison.
According to sources, after the fall of the previous Afghan government, Abbasi did not leave the country, trusting the Taliban's announcement of a "general amnesty," despite the existing pressures.
Sources said that Abbasi owned a lapis lazuli stone shop in Kabul's Share Naw area and was "busy with personal business".
Afghanistan International has seen a copy of the verdict of the Taliban's military intelligence court in Kabul, in which Abbasi was accused of joining "evil and corruption”. The text states that Abbasi was invited by a person named Nasser to commit to "evil and corruption," and he accepted this invitation two years ago. The verdict was issued at the end of June this year.
The text of the decree states that Abbasi paid 35,000 Afghanis to another person named Abdul Qahar to organise an attack on a Taliban outpost in the Baharistan area of Kabul.
In this ruling, the Taliban judge claimed that Abdul Karim Abbasi had "confessed" to these charges.
However, sources said that Abbasi's trial took place without access to his lawyer.
Human rights organisations claim that the Taliban's judicial system does not meet legal standards, and that defendants often lack access to a lawyer and other legal procedures.
In the past three years, the Taliban has arrested, tortured, and in some cases killed many people, mainly residents of Panjshir, on charges of "cooperating with the National Resistance Front”.
The Taliban has not yet officially commented on the arrest and trial of the former head of the Panjshir Provincial Council.
