This investigative report documents what happens behind the bars of Taliban prisons. The original version of this report was published in Persian in Independent Persian.
Amir recounted that one night, during one of these torturous interrogations, a Taliban interrogator took a burning coal from a stove and pressed it on his right thigh, trying to force a confession. Amir had no involvement in combat and, during his six years of service in the National Security, had never encountered Taliban forces.
The Taliban arrested Amir on November 10 of last year at the passport office in Bamiyan while he was trying to complete his biometric registration. Upon his arrest, the Taliban said nothing, but later, at the police command prison, they tied his hands and feet. A Taliban officer accused him of killing their fighters and attempting to flee Afghanistan by obtaining a passport. Amir’s wife, who was also a police officer, was not arrested because she already had a passport.
Amir is one of 15 individuals who shared their experiences in Taliban prisons with reporters from Independent Persian. This investigative report recounts the experiences of prisoners over the past 10 months. Many individuals declined to share their full names for fear of re-arrest by the Taliban, and Independent Persian only uses first names or pseudonyms.
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| Ajab Khan, a 35-year-old man, died on December 31, 2022, as a result of the torture he endured during two months in a Taliban prison in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. |
Who are Being Held in Taliban Prisons?
For the past 10 months, no organization, including the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur, has been allowed to monitor or visit Taliban-controlled prisons. Only a few foreign journalists, under strict limitations and Taliban oversight, have been permitted to report on some of these prisons. For example, Alex Crawford of Sky News visited a Taliban prison in Herat in February but was prevented from freely conversing with the inmates.
British diplomats, including Hugo Shorter, chargé d'affaires of the British Embassy in Afghanistan (operating from Qatar), have also visited detained British nationals. Peter Jouvenal, a British citizen arrested in December 2021 while trying to invest in Afghan mines, was released along with four other Britons on June 20, 2022. In February, David Levine, a friend of Jouvenal’s, told Independent Persian that Shorter was granted a 12-minute meeting with Jouvenal and another British detainee. However, the conversation was limited as Taliban officials were present.
The number of foreign nationals held in Taliban prisons remains unclear, but former detainees have reported seeing people from countries like Britain, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
Taliban prisons are managed by two main security entities: the Ministry of Interior, led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, and the General Directorate of Intelligence, headed by Mullah Abdul Haq Wasiq. Both maintain separate detention facilities.
Sarfaraz, a lawyer from Balkh who was arrested twice by the Taliban and spent a total of 45 days in detention, stated that most prisoners held by the Taliban's intelligence service are accused of affiliations with ISIS-K, the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, or involvement in kidnapping. Sarfaraz himself was arrested for representing anti-Taliban commanders from the previous government. He was tortured during his detention.
Another former detainee, Mansoor, who spent 65 days in Balkh’s central prison run by the Ministry of Interior, noted that many prisoners are there for criminal offenses like theft and violence. He added that children and adolescents make up a significant portion of the prison population, with some detained for social media activities against the Taliban.
Women's Experiences in Taliban Prisons
In the early months following the Taliban's return to power, several women who protested against restrictive Taliban laws were arrested. Many were held not in the central women’s prison in Pul-e-Charkhi but in Taliban intelligence facilities, where they endured both physical and psychological torture.
One woman, who was arrested in November and released in late December, noted that there were no women among the Taliban prison staff, and the women detainees were left without basic necessities, even during menstruation. Despite the physical abuse, none of the women reported sexual violence, although one stated that Taliban members would enter her cell and demand that she cover her face, while simultaneously beating and insulting her.
The Taliban forced these women to make video confessions, stating that they had been paid by foreign organizations, including the UN, to protest against the Taliban. These videos have not been released, although one collective video confession of women protesters was aired in February.
Ethnic Composition in Taliban Prisons
In various provinces, including Balkh, Herat, Ghor, Panjshir, and Kapisa, the majority of detainees are Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks, with very few Pashtuns. The few Pashtuns in Taliban prisons are usually accused of affiliations with ISIS-K, kidnapping, or plotting against the Taliban. Some Taliban members from different ethnic groups, including Pashtuns, are also imprisoned, but they often enjoy better conditions.
In Mansoor's account of his time in a Taliban prison in Mazar-e-Sharif, of the 230 prisoners in November, only four were Pashtuns. These individuals, held for betraying the Taliban, still wielded considerable power within the prison, with one even serving as a prison guard.
This narrative sheds light on the horrifying conditions, torture, and systemic abuse faced by detainees in Taliban prisons, as well as the ethnic and political dynamics at play within these detention centers.
In addition to protesting women, a number of other women are also in women’s special prisons in major cities and in Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul for various reasons, which the Taliban have labeled as "prostitution and immorality." One woman who spent time in Pul-e-Charkhi from early March to late May told Independent Persian that over 200 women were imprisoned in the cell where she was held and were in difficult conditions. She said: "One of the women was pregnant, and her time of delivery was very close, but there were no medicines, no doctors, and no possibility to help her. This woman was in a very dire health situation." She also mentioned that the women in Pul-e-Charkhi are mainly imprisoned for crimes like fleeing home, theft, activities against the Taliban, and what the Taliban consider prostitution.
Methods of Torture: From Shooting in the Palm to Needle Insertion in the Genitals
Sarfaraz woke up in the middle of the night in February after several hours of unconsciousness. He found himself in a cold, stone room and realized that his genitals were in severe pain and swollen. He had been taken out of the Taliban intelligence prison that night and tortured in a garden that had belonged to former government officials, which is now the headquarters of the Taliban's military forces. He said, "After they put the water hose in my mouth and the water entered my stomach, I lost consciousness." The next day, when Sarfaraz was allowed to go to the restroom, he told another inmate about his genital pain and then learned that while he was unconscious, the Taliban had inserted needles into his genitals. Sarfaraz said: "I don’t know why they did this to me, but some prisoners said the Taliban do this so that no one can pretend to be unconscious and escape torture." In the following days, Sarfaraz realized that similar actions had been taken against several other prisoners. After enduring 45 days of torture, Sarfaraz was released from Taliban prison but was detained again in Mazar-i-Sharif at the end of May.
The Taliban have not yet followed any specific written orders or laws regarding torture and treatment of prisoners. Detained individuals are often beaten and tortured before any charges are proven and at the scene of their arrest.
Mansour, the owner of a contracting company that worked with foreign military and the former Afghan government army, was arrested on September 20 in Mazar-i-Sharif and spent 65 days in a Taliban prison in Mazar-i-Sharif, during which he witnessed various methods of torture by the Taliban. Mansour said that public displays of torture in the prison courtyard are common, held by Taliban commanders every morning and night. He added that several children under 18 have been arrested and imprisoned for various offenses, including mobile theft and valuable items from stores, and are subjected to severe torture.
Mansour described how one child, whom he estimated to be around 14 years old and accused of mobile theft, was tortured: "One morning in early November, the Taliban brought all the prisoners out of their rooms to watch the torture of the 14-year-old boy. Two Taliban police tortured the accused child with a wire cable, striking him on the head, face, arms, and legs." He continued: "Ainuddin Islamyar, the head of Block 3 of the prison, who had first tortured the accused child and then released him, was also present at the torture scene. He suddenly became angry, picked up his Kalashnikov, and shot the boy in the palm." Mansour added that the child was running around the prison yard with a hand full of blood, screaming and asking for help, but no one dared to approach him.
The methods of torture in Taliban prisons include electric shocks, suspending individuals from the ceiling of the room with a rope tied to their right leg and left hand, binding them to a chair while hitting their soles with a cable, tying hands and feet from behind (which the Taliban call "Shah Marghak"), forcing a hose into the mouth of the prisoner until their stomach swells and they lose consciousness, placing a piece of fire on the thigh, suffocation by hand, needle insertion into the genitals, hanging a stone or heavy object from the genitals, submerging the person's head in a water tank, and shooting in the palm, all of which interviewees have witnessed during their imprisonment.
Death Due to Torture
A Taliban member from Kandahar, who had defrauded Taliban officials in Balkh, died in October 2021 under torture by electric shock in Taliban intelligence prison. Mansour, who was then in the central Taliban prison in Mazar-i-Sharif, said he witnessed the body of a Taliban member named "Haji Sahib" being transferred from the intelligence prison to the central prison and handed over to his family members who had come from Kandahar. This Taliban member was held for three days in the central prison of Mazar-i-Sharif and then transferred to intelligence prison.
According to Mansour, the guards at the Taliban prison said "Haji Sahib" had gone to Mazar-i-Sharif with a fake order from the Taliban leader a week after the government collapsed and had asked Mullah Qudratullah Hamza, the Taliban governor, for 150 American M4 rifles and five armored Hilux vehicles to take to Kandahar. Mullah Qudratullah Hamza contacted Taliban officials in Kabul while collecting these items and discovered that the order was fake. "Haji Sahib," a veteran member of the Taliban, intended to smuggle these items into Pakistan. Mansour said the Taliban guards claimed he was around 60 years old and died during electric shock torture when his heart failed.
Rahimullah, a former police officer in Ghor, who was arrested on October 15 of last year and imprisoned in the Taliban central prison in that province, said the Taliban operate in a network in Ghor, and any commander who arrests a person is responsible for their torture, confession extraction, and determining their length of imprisonment. Rahimullah added: "At night, the Taliban commanders come to the prison and take the people they have arrested with them. Each Taliban commander tortures their chosen person in their preferred location. After torture, the prisoners are returned to the prison." Rahimullah noted that Taliban commanders find witnesses for the accusations against the prisoners, most of whom are also Taliban members whose names are recorded in the prisoners' files as witnesses, and if one day a Taliban court decides on these individuals, the basis for the decision will be the testimony of these same people.
This former police officer, who was released from Taliban prison in exchange for money and the guarantees of influential tribal leaders, said that recording forced confession videos from prisoners is a common practice.
Arzu Kohistani, a girl who released a video on November 10 claiming that Mullah Nasir Ahmad Ahmadi, the Taliban commander of security district 11 in Kabul, attacked her with the intent to sexually assault her, was arrested a day after the video was released along with her friend, Wasima Kohistani. On November 13, the Taliban released a video of the forced confession of two girls and a young man, stating that Arzu Kohistani had engaged in propaganda against the Taliban due to a conspiracy and now regretted her actions. In the first video, which discussed the sexual assault by a Taliban commander, Arzu was shown wearing a black mask that covered her face, revealing only her eyes, while in the confession video, she was not masked and showed no signs of being beaten. Several informed sources told Independent Persian that the girl who introduced herself as Arzu in the confession video is Arzu’s sister, and the man sitting next to her as her husband is a Kabul citizen with no connection to Arzu.
An informed source who was closely acquainted with Arzu Kohistani and witnessed her imprisonment told Independent Persian on the condition of anonymity that Arzu Kohistani died under Taliban torture on the morning of November 12, and the girl appearing in the forced confession video is Arzu’s sister. The girl speaking in the video claims that her friend encouraged her to accuse a commander of the group of "discrediting the Islamic Emirate" and to spread it in the media. She adds that she thought this would help her escape from Afghanistan.
The informed source also added that after her arrest, Arzu Kohistani was taken to a room in the Taliban Ministry of Interior, where she was tortured. The Taliban tortured her in various ways, submerging her head in a tank filled with cold water, and after several repetitions of this torture, she lost consciousness. This source also mentioned that Arzu's family was threatened because the Taliban had taken a photo of Arzu with a naked body while standing next to a young Taliban member. This staging was intended to ensure the family and friends of Arzu Kohistani remained silent forever. The source added that the Taliban told Arzu's family that what had happened to their daughter and themselves was "divine punishment" because they had lived under a corrupt republican regime, and now the time for the implementation of Sharia and reforming society had come.
According to this informed source, Arzu Kohistani died due to bleeding and the severity of the injuries sustained during torture. However, there is no evidence or contact number for Arzu's family, who lived in the Qala-e-Najaran area of Khair Khana in Kabul. Journalists from Independent Persian contacted relatives of Abdul Qadir, Arzu Kohistani’s father, but were unable to find his address. Some relatives of Arzu Kohistani's family stated that they fled to Iran after the incident that happened to their daughter. A security official from the former Afghan government in Kabul's security district 11, who knows Arzu Kohistani and her family closely, said on the condition of anonymity that Arzu Kohistani is alive but does not know where she is living.
Nematullah Osmani, from the village of Deh Mullah in Bagrami district of Parwan, was arrested on the afternoon of Saturday, April 9, and the Taliban left his barely alive body in front of his house at around eight o'clock the next morning. While Nematullah was still breathing, Taliban members shot several bullets into his body and left. Moments later, villagers and Nematullah's relatives gathered around his lifeless body, shouting "Death to the Taliban." In a video taken of this scene, it can be seen that Nematullah's toenails and several teeth had been pulled out. One of Nematullah's relatives said he was arrested on charges of being a member of the National Resistance Front, and during torture to extract a confession, several teeth and two nails from his left and right feet were pulled out.
On Thursday, June 2, Taliban intelligence personnel left the lifeless body of a man named Abdulmanir Amini in front of his house in the Malsape village of the Bazarak district in Panjshir. This man was a shepherd and had been arrested while bringing food to his shepherds in the mountainous areas of Panjshir. One of Abdulmanir's relatives, speaking on the condition of anonymity to Independent Persian, said he was arrested on charges of collaborating with the National Resistance Front and died during torture.
Psychological Torture Alongside Physical Suffering
Men and women who have experienced imprisonment at the hands of the Taliban spoke about various methods of psychological torture alongside physical torture. Some of these women said that during interrogations, Taliban members told them that the Taliban court had issued sentences of stoning, execution, or amputation for them. One woman said: "They told me to say what I had to say, confess, that I was going to be stoned." Another woman recounted a midnight sermon from a Taliban member, saying that a Taliban member would come to the room where she was being held and talk for hours about divine punishment and hell that, according to them, awaited us. Male prisoners also have similar experiences. Some of these individuals said that Taliban officers would visit their cells in the middle of the night and tell them that the final judgment of the Taliban court had been issued regarding them, and this judgment was execution or stoning, and it would soon be carried out. In the early months of the Taliban's rule, several executions were carried out in prisons in Herat, Helmand, and other cities in Afghanistan, putting prisoners under severe psychological pressure.
Money Can Protect You in Taliban Prisons
Alongside individuals like Mullah Abdul Ghafour, the owner of the Kifayat company, who are deliberately arrested for extortion and blackmail, some others, arrested on various charges, including legal disputes, political and criminal accusations, can be released from prison by paying a significant sum to Taliban officials and commanders. Mullah Abdul Ghafour, who was arrested on April 5 on suspicion of involvement in the ambiguous kidnapping of Abdul Raoof, a child from Balkh, was released from the group's prison after paying $430,000 to the Taliban.
Mansour, the owner of a contracting company in Balkh, was released from prison after 65 days by paying $11,000. A month later, the Taliban arrested his father on charges of still possessing weapons at his home. Mansour then paid another $3,000 to a senior Taliban official in Balkh to secure his father's release.
During the 65 days he spent in prison, Mansour paid one of the prison guards 1,000 Afghanis every night to receive food sent by his family. He said: "Even if you commit the heaviest crime, money can protect you in Taliban prisons." Mansour stated that smoking is prohibited in Taliban prisons, but he and a group of his friends, who enjoyed better conditions inside the prison thanks to paying bribes, would buy a pack of cigarettes, which sells for 350 Afghanis in the city, for 2,500 Afghanis from the Taliban guards.
Abdullah Tokali, a former assistant to Karim Khalili, one of the political leaders of the Hazara community, was arrested on April 5 in Kabul and spent 14 days in Taliban intelligence prison before being released after paying $6,000. He said that when he was arrested, he had 25,000 Afghanis in cash, which the prison guards took from him. Abdullah Tokali mentioned, "In addition to the $6,000 I paid for my release, every time my family came to visit me in prison, we would pay the guards 30,000 Afghanis to facilitate their entry."
Rahmat, a resident of Balkh who was arrested in November and spent about two months in Taliban prison, was released after giving his only personal vehicle to the protection officer. Rahmat was arrested and imprisoned on charges of membership in armed groups against the Taliban that were supported by the former Afghan government.
Most individuals who have experienced arrest and imprisonment in the past ten months in Afghanistan have somehow been released from Taliban prisons by paying cash, giving their personal vehicles, or committing to cooperate with the Taliban to capture others. Some individuals who have been released from Taliban prisons are forced to spy for the group under pressure and threats, and they must report to the group's intelligence office every one or two weeks to confirm that they have not gone anywhere. If the individual fails to comply with their commitment, the guarantors are arrested and tortured.
I presented the accounts of individuals who experienced imprisonment, torture, and bribery for freedom from Taliban prisons in a phone call with Abdul Naafi Takor, the spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Interior. Abdul Naafi Takor denied the allegations of torture and extortion of prisoners, stating: "The Islamic Emirate has implemented a general amnesty, and we do not have a single political prisoner in all of Afghanistan. Some individuals have been arrested on charges of theft and crimes, and they are treated with compassion and kindness."
Takor also mentioned that the Ministry of Interior manages all the prisons in Afghanistan, and while the Taliban intelligence department may have temporary observation rooms, they do not have prisons.
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