PUL-I-ALAM (Pajhwok): A number of remand prisoners at the central jail of central Logar province have complained they are being tortured by jail security officials and they face many problems during detention.
The prisoners shared their problems with provincial council members during a meeting on Friday.
One of the prisoners, Abdul Hameed, told Pajhwok Afghan News he had been detained in connection with a crime last month. “I was severely beaten and subjected to harsh treatment when police took me to the jail,” he said.
He was jailed without any evidence, he said, accusing the crime branch chief of beating him with a cable to near death but he survived.
Another prisoner Ahmadullah, a resident of Baraki Barak district, said he had spent three months in the jail without committing any crime. “I endured too much torture at the hands of police and I would never forgive them.”
He said he was detained for allegedly having links with the Taliban during a clash between the rebels and security forces.
He said the court was yet to decide his case. “I was electrocuted, beaten with cables, and my family was verbally abused by the police,” he said.
Some other inmates also complained mistreatment meted out to them by police personnel in the dark cells of the jail.
Logar provincial council head Hasibullah Stanikzai, while visiting the jail, said prisoners in the jail faced multiple problems. “The inmates are tortured and mistreated, they also face shortage of electricity and space,” he added. Stanikzai said he would share inmates’ problems with the relevant organs.
However, provincial crime branch chief Col. Sher Daud Arian said no innocent man had been jailed and rejected if inmates were tortured during interrogation.
“We have clear evidence about crimes the prisoners have committed, so there is no need for torturing them,” he said.
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