Stripping Flesh from Bodies to Hanging from Ceilings: Torture Methods in Taliban Prisons in Afghanistan
The human rights organization “Tolerance” has reported on torture methods in Taliban prisons in Afghanistan, ranging from stripping flesh from bodies to hanging from ceilings.
The human rights organization “Tolerance” in its latest report, while announcing the human rights situation in Afghanistan, has exposed the torture methods used on prisoners in Taliban prisons. In the aforementioned report, freedom from torture is considered an absolute and inalienable right of individuals that no justification can violate.
According to the Convention Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, torture, abuse, and other cruel and degrading treatment are prohibited. However, according to obtained documents, the Taliban not only mistreats its prisoners but also severely tortures them.
“Tolerance” stated in its report: “The Taliban uses torture methods as the most common means of extracting confessions and proving charges against detained and imprisoned individuals, torturing them to the point where they submit to forced confessions.”
The organization added in its report: “Due to the lack of access by human rights organizations to prisons under Taliban control, specific statistics on the extent of prisoner torture are not available. However, prisoners released from Taliban detention, despite Taliban threats that they should not speak to media about torture or face re-arrest, have stated that they experienced various forms of torture.”
The human rights organization Tolerance in its report has referred to various and brutal torture methods used by the Taliban, including “tying stones to men’s genitals, stripping flesh from bodies and nails, starvation, exposure to extreme heat or cold, threatening with gunfire, waterboarding, inserting water pipes into prisoners’ mouths while first gagging them tightly and then forcefully giving water, electric shock, exposure to noise pollution, sleep deprivation, beating with fists and feet, batons and rifle butts, hanging from ceilings, suffocation and threats of killing prisoners and their family members, keeping prisoners in hot and scorching sunlight and withholding food.”
Many prisoners have endured Taliban torture, but some have not survived these tortures and have been killed under torture. The rate of torture leading to death has increased by 20 percent this year compared to last year.
A lawyer who was detained from Kabul city and held in Taliban prison for two months stated that during his two-month detention, he experienced various forms of torture including electric shock, hanging from ceilings, and physical beating.
This human rights organization, in addition to examining the situation of Afghans in Taliban prisons, has also investigated the situation of ethnic and religious groups who are severely vulnerable. According to these reports, the Taliban has barred ethnic and religious individuals from public services, access to employment opportunities, implementation of development projects, humanitarian aid, distribution of facilities and national resources, and treats them in a discriminatory manner.
The Taliban has also established multiple schools in Badakhshan province and has forced Ismaili Shiites to send their children to these schools to receive education based on Hanafi jurisprudence.
International human rights organizations and United Nations bodies have repeatedly condemned discriminatory actions against ethnic and religious individuals and have warned about their consequences.
