This was contained in an open letter dated August 1, 2022, and addressed to Open Government Partnership Government, Founders of civil societies, UN Human Rights Council, International Media and other human rights and donor organisations.
Civil society members under the umbrella of the Afghanistan Open Government Partnership have raised the alarm over alleged attempts by the Taliban-led regime to kill some of them in Afghanistan.
This was contained in an open letter dated August 1, 2022, and addressed to Open Government Partnership Government, Founders of civil societies, UN Human Rights Council, International Media and other human rights and donor organisations.
In the letter jointly signed by the civil society members - Open Government Partnership (OGP) Afghanistan; Open Government Partnership Afghanistan Forum (OGPAF) and Civil Society Organisations Management section, the members lamented the inhumane and brutal experience of human rights activists, women and girls in Afghanistan since Taliban overthrew the Afghanistan government in 2021.
They noted that civil society members of the General Assembly of the Afghanistan Open Government Partnership are not only accused of collaborating with the previous Afghan government but are also accused of collaborating with the International Forum for Open Government Partnership.
The letter read in part: “We are confident in your knowledge that you are aware of the current highly challenging circumstances in Afghanistan. Twenty years of collective efforts by international society "shoulder to shoulder" with their Afghan counterparts collapsed just in two weeks with an uncertain future. Which not only broke the hearts of Afghans but also seriously threatened the lives of civil society activists working to preserve civil values and human rights.
“Millions of Afghan women and girls have been exposed to systematic gender discrimination since August 15, 2021, in complete violation of the international law that Afghanistan has signed, and the future of women is in grave danger
“Although the Taliban have declared a general amnesty since capturing Kabul, there are individuals and circles within them who pursue an agenda of torturing and killing civil and human rights activists. Because they consider the word "civil" to mean the West's import to Afghanistan, they believe that the activities of civil and human rights activists as the agenda of Western countries provide the basis for achieving their goals in Afghanistan.
“Now, with the symbolic invitation of some figures of the previous government, the Taliban want to deceive the international community and exploit the existence of those invited politically. But the truth is that employees at various levels of the previous government and civil and human rights activists who remain in Afghanistan are still at risk of torture and death.
“Every month, dozens of people are arrested and mysteriously killed under different titles. But it is not reflected in the media. For example, at the beginning of July 2022, dozens of dead bodies of arrested people were found in Nangarhar province.
“In June 2022, gunmen killed a local AYCN activist in Jalalabad. In the mentioned month, a former army general who returned from Iran to Afghanistan was arrested at the Kabul airport and his fate is unknown.
“On 06/25/2022, the Taliban raided homes in the Khairkhana area of Kabul province, arrested 60 people, and transferred them to an unknown location. Former government employees and social activists are among those detained. The same day, the Taliban entered the house of Mohammad Moradi in Ghor province and killed Moradi, his wife, and his daughter. He was a colleague of the former government.
“Arrests and killings by the Taliban in Afghanistan continue unabated, but due to media censorship, the Taliban's ugly actions do not broadcast. And people do not dare to talk about these arrests and killings. Even the families of the victims are not willing to talk about the arrest and death of their relatives due to the fear of the Taliban.
“In the first week of July, armed men attacked Mr. Afghan's brother's house, and in that attack, unfortunately, Mr. Afghan's brother was killed by armed men. But Mr. Afghan had left his brother's house two days before the attack. On 16/06/2022, Mr. Afghan wrote and published an open letter about the human rights crisis, especially the women's rights crisis in Afghanistan. You can find the link to that open letter below.
“Some thought that the Taliban might have changed, but on the contrary, they are more violent than ever about civil and political liberties, especially the rights of women and girls, freedom of speech, and freedom of the media. They follow the policy of suppressing and excluding women from society. They mysteriously kill civil activists and those who can organize people in the community.”
The civil society members also thanked “the OGP member governments and donors for their assistance to the OGP Support Unit, as a result of which a member of the General Assembly of the Afghanistan Open Government Partnership, Mr. Zia-ul-Haq Haqpal, and his family was transferred from Afghanistan to Macedonia”.
The letter further said, “Mr. Haqpal and his family were relocated to Macedonia in August 2021 during the evacuation process. And now resides in Canada.
“It should be noted that the General Assembly of the Open Government Partnership of Afghanistan has 17 members of civil society organizations, most of whom were able to leave Afghanistan through their personal relationships with some international organizations. But four other members of the General Assembly of the Afghanistan Open Government Partnership, including Mr. Abdul Wadood Afghan, co-chair, are still in danger of death in Afghanistan.
“In the end, we ask all the international media receiving this open letter to help us in reflecting on this letter and conveying our voice to human rights defenders.”