Taliban Deputy PM Visits Prison in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Province

DID Press: Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for administrative affairs, visited a prison in Panjshir Province during a trip to the province and reviewed the condition of inmates.

The visit was attended by the Taliban’s minister of telecommunications and a deputy minister of interior affairs.

During the visit, Hanafi met prisoners and heard their concerns. Hafez Mohammad Agha Hakim, the Taliban-appointed governor of Panjshir, said there were no political prisoners at the facility and that 59 inmates were being held on criminal or legal charges.

However, despite the Taliban officials’ claim, multiple reports have alleged that many detainees held by the group are political prisoners and that arbitrary arrests and mistreatment remain widespread.

Human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the Taliban of detaining people without transparent judicial procedures, as well as subjecting prisoners to torture and other forms of pressure.