During the previous administration (the Islamic Republic) one of my closest relatives was a police commander in a district. He was unemployed after the fall of the Republic and as an influential community figure he was helping to solve people’s problems. In August of 2022, a massive flooding occurred in our area and caused great damage to the people. A few days after the flooding, a member of Taliban called Samandar and asked him to go to the Provincial Directorate of Disaster Management and distribute the assistance intended for the flood victims of the district. I could hear that person very well, he was speaking very respectfully behind the phone.
The next day, after consultation with a few villagers, Samandar went to the center of the province. After a few hours I called his phone but it was switched off. I thought he was busy with meetings or prayer. I called again but his phone was still switched off, I was worried and I called his phone several times. He was missing for four days and his phone was switched off. I and a number of influential community members went to the provincial capital several times and visited the various Taliban offices.
They all told us that they had no information about him, and that they had not invited anyone to the provincial center to help the flood victims. Finally, after four days, his body was recovered from the outskirts of the provincial capital. I saw with my own eyes that his legs and hands were broken, and that there were traces of beatings and severe physical torture everywhere on his body. They cruelly tortured him and then threw his lifeless body somewhere. The Taliban deny involvement in the case, but the evidence I cannot speak of at this time clearly shows that this person was detained by a group of Taliban military officials and was killed as a result of severe torture. His fault was that he had worked in the ranks of the security forces of the previous government.
We have worked hard to ensure justice and to address this issue but to no avail. Officials’ ears are deaf and eyes are blind (sic). We have no choice but to wait patiently and ask God for justice on resurrection day.
