New Delhi: Amid reports of killings and atrocities carried out by the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, Amnesty International on Friday said that Taliban fighters massacred nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province last month. The rights group said that its researchers in Afghanistan spoke to eyewitnesses who gave harrowing accounts of the killings, which took place between 4-6 July in the village of Mundarakht, Malistan district.
Six of the men were shot and three were tortured to death, including one man who was strangled with his scarf and had his arm muscles sliced off, it added.
The head of Amnesty International, Agnes Callamard said, "The cold-blooded brutality of these killings is a reminder of the Taliban’s record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring".
These targeted killings are proof that ethnic and religious minorities remain at particular risk under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, she pointed out.
Further Callamard, urged the UN Security Council to adopt an emergency resolution demanding that the Taliban respect international human rights law, and ensure the safety of all Afghans regardless of their ethnic background or religious beliefs.
The rights group asserted that the brutal killings likely represent a tiny fraction of the total death toll inflicted by the Taliban to date, as the group have cut mobile phone service in many of the areas they have recently captured, controlling which photographs and videos are then shared from these regions.
“The UN Human Rights Council must launch a robust investigative mechanism to document, collect and preserve evidence of ongoing crimes and human rights abuses across Afghanistan. That will prove critical to ensure informed decision-making by the international community, and combat the impunity which continues to fuel grave crimes in the country", the Rights group said.
Torture and murder in the context of an armed conflict are violations of the Geneva Conventions and constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which is already considering crimes committed about the conflict in Afghanistan.
Some reports say that Taliban fighters have killed the family member of an Afghan journalist working for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, which reflects that the lives of the independent media workers in Afghanistan are in acute danger.
The Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan following the collapse of the government in recent days.
Further, as Afghanistan is witnessing catastrophic violence, Amnesty International has called for the protection of thousands of Afghans at serious risk of Taliban reprisals, from academics and journalists to civil society activists and women human rights defenders.
