4 killed in Afghan prison as inmates, police clash

KABUL, Afghanistan

At least four prisoners were killed and dozens of other inmates and policemen injured after a brawl in central prison in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, an official statement confirmed.

The Interior Ministry confirmed the scuffle about an hour after the fight broke out at the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in the east of the city.

Nusrat Rahimi, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the clash erupted when the security forces entered the prison cells of inmates convicted with drugs related crimes.

He said the policemen, accompanied with judicial officers, went ahead with the search plan in line with court orders, but a number of prisoners resisted and attacked them.

Last month, a joint report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the UN Human Rights Office concluded that nearly a third of conflict-related detainees interviewed provided credible and reliable accounts of having been subject to torture or ill-treatment.

The report was based on interviews with 618 detainees held in 77 facilities in 28 provinces across the country between 2017-2018.

The report also acknowledged progress performed by the Kabul government in implementing Afghanistan’s National Plan on the Elimination of Torture, and highlighted that this enforcement has had tangible results, with a reduction in torture or ill-treatment of conflict-related detainees across different security entities in the country.