Afghan victims slam closed judicial depts, freeing of criminals

KABUL: A number of Afghans, especially families of crime victims, sharply criticized the new government over the judicial departments remaining closed.

Families of victims said some of the criminals who were jailed under the former government based on court verdicts, were freed following the collapse of the former government. Shafiqa, an elderly woman, said her daughter was killed as a result of domestic violence. According to Shafiqa, the person suspected of the killing was imprisoned for five years.

The convict was freed when the Taliban announced general amnesty and he is now threatening her family. “I want the killer of my daughter to be hanged. The government must rearrest him and put him in jail,” she said.

“With the takeover of Afghanistan by the Islamic Emirate, this person (the convicted murderer) was freed from jail. We urge the government to arrest him and bring him to justice. Any day that we go to the court it is closed,” said Mohammad Dawood, the brother of the victim.

Officials from the Cultural Commission of the Ministry of Information and Culture said justice institutions will soon reopen. “The reopening of the judicial departments is one of the priorities of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” said Abdulhaq Emad, a person close to the Taliban leadership.

Sources told the media that the justice department and judicial institutions have remained closed, and no one has been introduced as head of the Supreme Court or as attorney general on the caretaker cabinet list.