A new investigation by Amnesty International released on Thursday has exposed a brutal massacre of Hazara men by Taliban who seized power in Afghanistan following the collapse of the government.
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.
Quoting on-the-ground researchers who spoke to eyewitnesses, the human rights organization said Taliban fighters massacred nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province last month.
Those witnesses gave harrowing accounts of the killings, which took place between July 4-6 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 own scarf and had his arm muscles sliced off.
Amnesty 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 cold-blooded brutality of these killings is a reminder of the Taliban’s past record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“These targeted killings are proof that ethnic and religious minorities remain at particular risk under Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
“We urge 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 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.”
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 in relation to the conflict in Afghanistan.
Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.