The military representative for the Afghan Prisons Service, Habibullah Badr, inspects detainees in a prison in Kabul (Al Jazeera)

Kabul -

The Afghan Ministry of Interior announced for the first time the number of detainees in its prisons since the Taliban movement came to power in 2021, and spoke of improved conditions for detainees compared to the previous era.

The military representative for the Prisons Service, Habibullah Badr, revealed to Al Jazeera Net that the number of detainees in Afghan prisons has reached 19,000, including 25 foreigners, 800 women, and 200 members of the Taliban themselves. He stated that work is underway to issue “a law to reform prisons and prisoners throughout Afghanistan.”

Badr said, "I have lived through the bitterness and difficulty of imprisonment, and I know the suffering and problems of detainees in Afghan prisons. I have tried to improve the condition of the prisons, and after great efforts I was able to increase the prisoners' benefits. Now we pay each prisoner approximately two dollars, and the previous government spent less than a dollar a day on them." There are ongoing attempts to improve their conditions.”

A previous Afghan court had sentenced Habibullah Badr - a member of the Taliban movement - to 49 years in prison with the death penalty after convicting him of involvement in “terrorist acts” against the government, but he was released after the movement came to power 6 years after serving his sentence. He was appointed as a military official to supervise government prisons throughout Afghanistan.

Foreign detainees

For her part, Anna Corbett - the wife of an American detained by the Afghan government - appealed for the release of her husband, Ryan Corbett, who established a business consulting company in 2017, and left with his family the capital, Kabul, after the withdrawal of American forces from it, but he returned to it again in January 2022. To resume his work, the Afghan authorities arrested him.

With the passage of 18 months since Corbett's arrest, during which he was able to speak to his family on the phone only three times, the United States demanded his release, but the Afghan government has not responded so far.

Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Al Jazeera Net, "A number of foreign citizens - including Americans - are detained in Afghanistan for their involvement in security and illegal issues."

Experts on Afghan affairs believe that the arrest of American and European citizens was a fantasy during the era of the previous Afghan government and during the presence of American forces in Afghanistan, despite their involvement in actions and activities that contradict the country’s laws. However, the current Afghan government arrested Americans and Britons on charges of espionage.

According to experts, there is another reason for their arrest, which is to pressure their country to support the Afghan government’s position in the negotiations.

International relations researcher Abdul Kabir Nouri told Al Jazeera Net, "The current government is closely monitoring foreigners, and wants to know the activities they are carrying out in Afghanistan. It arrested a number of them on charges of espionage, and then they were later released, as happened with British citizens, where the British sat months ago with... Afghan government delegation in Malaysia.”

Bolcharkhi prison in the capital, Kabul (social networking sites)

Afghan detainees

The Afghan government was able to release Afghan detainees from prisons in Iran, Pakistan and the Emirates, and the leader of the movement, Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada, appointed a special committee to look into Afghan detainees in foreign countries.

Military representative Habibullah Badr told Al Jazeera Net, "We released 100,000 prisoners by decision of the leader of the movement, Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzadeh, and we were able to transfer 1,600 Afghan detainees from Iranian prisons to Afghanistan, and they are now serving their sentences in Afghan prisons."

When the Taliban took over the administration of the Afghan provinces in August 2021, they opened the doors of prisons and detention centers and released prisoners, including a large number of drug smugglers and ISIS members, which caused major security problems for the current government, and a number of defense lawyers and prosecutors also left. Afghan judges fear for their lives after these people are released from prison.

Two thousand drug smugglers and traffickers are currently being held in a prison called the “Special Prison” in the capital, Kabul, in addition to 400 others, some of whom the court has sentenced to retribution and life imprisonment.

As for the detainees of the Taliban movement - whose number is approximately 200 - a source in the Afghan Interior Ministry told Al Jazeera Net, “The Afghan authorities are monitoring the ISIS file very seriously, and everyone accused of having a relationship with the organization is immediately arrested and referred to investigation, and among them there are those who have a relationship.” organization, in addition to the involvement of others in illegal matters, and the court does not distinguish between the accused.”

Afghan citizens who were former detainees in Bagram prison were subjected to torture and neglect (Anatolia)

The reality of Afghan prisons

The current government - according to what it announces - has eliminated secret or private prisons, as they are called in Afghanistan, but what raises the concern of human rights associations and civil activists is that the Afghan authorities do not allow visits to prisons and monitor the work of those in charge of them, nor do they allow local media to cover related news. With detainees.

Civil activist Azza Mahjoor told Al Jazeera Net, "We do not know what is happening behind the prison walls, because those in charge of them do not allow us to see the conditions of the prisoners, and they are also deprived of meeting with lawyers."

He added, "There is another problem, which is that the new authorities do not know the civil law and prisoner rights, and there are serious concerns about dealing with the cases of accused and detainees."

There are 27 prisons in Afghanistan, the most famous of which is the “Central Prison” in the capital, Kabul, which holds between 5,000 and 14,000 prisoners. It was built in the 1970s by order of former President Muhammad Daud Khan. It became famous as a notorious prison after the communists came to power in 1978, when they executed about 27,000 political prisoners, the most famous of whom was Muhammad Musa Shafiq, the last prime minister.

During the presence of American forces in Afghanistan, the name “Black Prison” appeared, which was built by American forces at the Bagram base, north of the capital, Kabul. They used it to arrest Taliban militants and major drug smugglers. After these forces left, the current government closed it due to its bad reputation.

Source: Al Jazeera