Afghans file 1.17M war crime claims

kabul — Since the International Criminal Court began collecting material three months ago for a possible war crimes case involving Afghanistan, it has gotten a staggering 1.17 million statements from Afghans who say they were victims.

The statements include accounts of alleged atrocities not only by groups like the Taleban and the Daesh group, but also involving Afghan Security Forces and government-affiliated warlords, the USled coalition, and foreign and domestic spy agencies, said Abdul Wadood Pedram of the Human Rights and Eradication of Violence Organisation.

Based in part on the many statements, ICC judges in The Hague would then have to decide whether to seek a war crimes investigation. It’s uncertain when that decision will be made.

The statements were collected between November 20, 2017, and January 31, 2018, by organisations based in Europe and Afghanistan and sent to the ICC, Pedram said. Because one statement might include multiple victims and one organisation might represent thousands of victim statements, the number of Afghans seeking justice could be several million.

“It is shocking there are so many,” Pedram said, noting that in some instances, whole villages were represented. “It shows how the justice system in Afghanistan is not bringing justice for the vic- tims and their families.”

“I have the names of the organizations, but because of the security issues, we don’t want to name them because they will be targeted,” said Pedram, whose group is based in Kabul.

Many of the representations include statements involving multiple victims, which could be the result of suicide bombings, targeted killings or airstrikes, he said.

Among those alleging war crimes is a man who asked to be identified only by his first name, Shoaib, because he fears for his safety.

Shoaib said his father, Naimatullah, was on a bus in Dawalat Yar district in Afghanistan’s central Ghor Province in 2014 when a band of gunmen stopped it and two other buses, forced the passengers off and told them to hand over their identity cards. The 14 Shias among them were separated from the rest and killed, one by one, he said.

The slayings outraged the country. A Taleban commander was soon arrested and brought before the media, but no news about a trial or punishment was ever reported, said Shoaib, who is in his 20s.

Displaying a photo of the man he believes killed his father, Shoaib said he doesn’t go to the authorities for information about the incident because the commander had connections with the police and the local government administration. Shoaib is still afraid. “Please don’t say where I live, or show my face,” he implored a reporter.

I am pursuing this because I want the ICC to record these cases so that if there is a peace agreement, the taleban leaders will be required to identify the people behind the killings. Hussain Razaee, An Afghan

“What if they find me? There is no protection in Afghanistan,” he said. “Everybody knows that they have connection in the government,” he added.

After receiving death threats last year, Pedram fled Kabul briefly and now keeps a lower profile, no longer speaking to local media.

“The warlords are all here. You have to be very careful,” he said. “In the morning, I kiss my little son goodbye, I kiss my wife goodbye because I don’t know what will happen to me and when, or if I will see them again.”

It is shocking there are so many. In some instances, whole villages were represented. It shows how the justice system in afghanistan is not bringing justice for the victims.” Abdul Wadood Pedram, human rights activist

Another Afghan who went to the ICC is Hussain Razaee, whose fiancee, Najiba, was among 30 people killed in July when a Taleban suicide attacker rammed a car bomb into a bus carrying employees from the Ministry of Mines.

For months, Razaee said he contemplated suicide. He had spent two years convincing Najiba’s parents to allow them to marry, and they had finally agreed. Unlike most Afghan couples, theirs was not to be an arranged marriage.

“I lost the person I loved,” he said. Razaee said he went to the

Please don’t say where I live, or show my face. What if they find me? there is no protection in afghanistan. everybody knows that they have connection in the government.” Shoaib, one of the war crime victims

ICC because he wants those responsible to be punished, even if a peace deal with the Taleban is reached.

“I am pursuing this because I want the ICC to record these cases so that if there is a peace agreement, the Taleban leaders will be required to identify the people behind the killings,” Razaee said.

“I don’t trust the international community to bring any of these warlords or Taleban to justice, but if an international legal body rules according to the law, then the government could be forced to enforce it,” he said. —