Nine men of Hazara minority killed by Taliban in Afghanistan

In early July, the Taliban tortured and executed nine Hazara men in Afghanistan, looting their homes in Ghazni province, according to human rights organisation Amnesty International.

The Hazara community is Afghanistan’s third-largest ethnic group, which mainly practises Shia Islam. It has long faced discrimination and persecution in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan and Pakistan reports BBC.

Amnesty’s secretary-general Agnès Callamard said, “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.”

Eyewitnesses said how a 63-year-old man working for the Afghan government was strangled to death with his own scarf and his arm muscles were sliced off.

Many bodies were thrown into nearby creeks, while those with bruises and broken arms and legs were buried.

Speaking to Amnesty International, one eyewitness, who assisted with the burials, said, “We asked the Taliban why they did this, and they told us, ‘When it is the time of conflict, everyone dies, it doesn’t matter if you have guns or not. It is the time of war.’”

“These targeted killings are proof that ethnic and religious minorities remain at particular risk under Taliban rule in Afghanistan,” Agnès Callamard.

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Written by Ruth Jane