KABUL (Pajhwok): At least 10 former commissioners of election bodies have been sentenced to five years in prison each.
The appellant court of the anti-corruption criminal justice center sentenced seven former members of the Independent Election Commission and three ex-members of the Electoral Complaint Commission to five years imprisonment.
The commissioners were jailed as a result of fraud and rigging in Wolesi Jirga lection held in October last year.
The former head of the Electoral Complaints Commission, Abdul Aziz Aryaee, and two former members of the commission, Humaira Haqmal and Abdul Basir Fayiz, were accused of reducing or adding to parliamentary candidates’ votes in Kunar province and misuse of authority.
Meanwhile, seven former members of Independent Election Commission including Abdul Badi Sayyad, Wasima Badghisi, Maazullah Dawlati, Rafiullah Bedar, Abdul Qadir Quraishi, Sayed Hafizullah and Maliha Hassan were also accused of adding or reducing parliamentary candidates votes.
The Attorney General Office said that all the accused commissioner were appeared at the court session, except Wasima Badghishi.
However, lawyers of the accused commissioners denied the allegations and termed the punishment a politically motivated move against the former commissioners.
Sa