Officials from the Prison Administration of the caretaker government recently announced that they have 10,000 to 11,000 prisoners, including one thousand women, in their jails.
During a government accountability program in Kabul today (Sunday, September 11), officials from the Prison Administration stated that this number has been sentenced to prison by the government’s courts.
They also mentioned that among the prisoners, there are approximately 800 to 900 children.
The officials emphasized that in addition to this, 10,000 to 12,000 others are being held in the group’s detention centers.
The Prison Administration officials denied allegations of prisoner abuse within the jails.
This statement comes amid numerous reports over the past year regarding the deaths of prisoners due to torture by the current government’s forces in state prisons.
It should be noted that the United Nations and human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the “arbitrary” detentions of individuals, particularly women and girls, by the caretaker government forces in Afghanistan.
Reports from various organizations, including the United Nations, indicate that in the past three years, the caretaker government has detained dozens of women human rights activists and advocates for women’s rights for “raising their voices for justice.”
Previously, Zarmina Pariyani, a women’s rights activist, revealed that she was stripped naked in the current government’s prison by their personnel, a matter that sparked widespread domestic and global reactions.
Meanwhile, the news magazine Spectator reported last month, citing the United Nations, that sexual assault, gang rape, and sexual slavery against women in the current government’s prisons are set to be investigated by the United Nations.
A statement released by this magazine indicated that reports of sexual violence and assaults by the government against imprisoned women in Afghanistan have raised concerns from the U.S. State Department and Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, and the UN has announced an investigation into this matter.
