Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. Here, a Staff Correspondent for JURIST in Kabul reports on the shooting death of a young civilian by Taliban forces and the protests, marked by anti-Taliban chants, that followed. For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding his name. The text has only been lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.
Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. Here, a Staff Correspondent for JURIST in Kabul reports on the shooting death of a young civilian by Taliban forces and the protests, marked by anti-Taliban chants, that followed. For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding his name. The text has only been lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.
Residents of the Panjshir province in Afghanistan took to the streets Sunday after a young civilian was shot to death by Taliban forces. A number of women participated in the protests as they continued on to Monday. The protestors and the family of the deceased young man have urged the Taliban to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
The young man’s mother stated in a video that her son was a civilian with no ties to the former government’s military. Another video posted on social media showed a group of women protesting alongside the men, one of whom was giving a speech to a gathering of the other women. In her speech, the woman said that although the Taliban announced a general amnesty, no one in Panjshir or any other province was safe from Taliban.
There have been several reports in the last five months of the Taliban arresting and killing young men. Additionally, several reports regarding illegal searches, arrests and other killings by the Taliban have surfaced from UN agencies, Human Rights Watch, and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. The Taliban is yet to provide a convincing response to the allegations in these reports.
As to this specific killing in Panjshir province, the Taliban stated that an investigation has been launched, but I am skeptical that these words will lead us anywhere. The Taliban has made a lot of similar commitments in the past but they are yet to take any action against their own.
SOURCE: JURIST
