KABUL (Pajhwok): Protesting women candidates in capital Kabul on Saturday claimed police tortured and beat them and dismantled and tore apart their protest tents.
For the past eight days, a number of protesting women candidates have erected tents close to the Presidential Palace to protest fraud and rigging in last year’s Wolesi Jirga elections.
They are 12 unsuccessful candidates from Herat, Kunduz, Nangarhar, Helmand, Baghlan, Maidan Wardak provinces and Kochi constituency.
They have been asking the government to address their demands regarding alleged rigging and form a special panel of judges to investigate rigging claims in the October polls.
The candidates on Saturday staged a protest in front of the Attorney General Office, demanding their rights and restoration of disgrace to their personalities.
Najiba Faez, an unsuccessful candidate from Helmand province, said security forces on Friday night destroyed their protest tents and beat up the protesting candidates.
“Today we are here to demand restoration of the disgrace to our personalities. Men and women policemen used force against us and behaved with us inhumanly.”
Officials of the Ministry of Interior and Kabul Police could not be reached for comment.
“We will continue our protest until we get our rights because our demands are not above the law,” they said.
Earlier, MoI deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi had said a suicide bomber who wanted to carry out a suicide attack on the protesters was identified and injured by police.
But Helah Mujtaba said there was not threat of suicide bombing in the area and it was a conspiracy hitched by the government against the protestors.
She said the protesters had submitted their petition regarding their rights and demands to the AGO.
AGO spokesman Jamshid Raosuli said the petition of protester had been received and referred to the department concerned. He said the issue would be investigated.
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