The United Nations said Wednesday that Afghanistan's Taliban had committed more than 1,600 human rights violations during arrests and detentions of people, including women, and it urged the de facto authorities to cease the abuses.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA, has documented the violations in its first report on the treatment of detainees since the Taliban reclaimed power two years ago, saying nearly half of the violations were acts of custodial torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
The report described as "systemic" the use of torture and "ill-treatment" by police and the General Directorate of Intelligence in places of detention and prisons nationwide.
The UNAMA report details methods of torture authorities used to extract confessions or other information, saying detainees were subjected to severe pain and suffering through physical beatings, electric shocks, asphyxiation, stress positions, and forced ingestion of water, as well as blindfolding and threats.
The report noted that 24 percent of the victims were journalists or civil society members, 21 percent were former Afghan government members, and 44 percent were individuals with no particular affiliation. The rest included those affiliated with arms groups and people detained in order to extract information.
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