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Amnesty International urges Afghan gov’t prioritize release of women prisoners

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(Last Updated On: April 11, 2020)

The Amnesty International Friday urged the Afghan government to take immediate steps to implement President Ghani’s decree to release prisoners to control the spread of COVID-19.

The organization called on the authorities to prioritize women prisoners.

It said as the number of cases in Afghanistan rises, there are fears that prisoners in overcrowded detention facilities, often where up to five people are squeezed into a single cell in unsanitary conditions and without access to adequate health facilities, are at high risk of infection.

“Ten days have passed since Afghanistan’s President ordered the release of prisoners and nothing has happened. Every day, the risk to them rises. At particular risk are women prisoners, many of whom have children with them. There is ongoing discrimination against women and girls in general in Afghanistan,” said Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director at Amnesty International.

He noted that this discrimination beside many other challenges makes women least important, emphasizing, “The government must take immediate measures for the release of these women and for them to be safely relocated to limit the risk to them,”

Afghan civil society groups have raised concerns about the conditions of women prisoners. In an open letter to President Ashraf Ghani this week, the Afghan Women’s Network pointed out that many women prisoners at risk have not committed serious crimes or are yet to be convicted. Many of them are also mothers, with their children in custody with them. Like elsewhere in South Asia, Afghanistan’s prisons are overpopulated.

 Afghanistan faces particular challenges in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak given the continuing conflict in the country, poor health infrastructure with just 300 ventilators, a shortage of doctors and other trained health workers, and a lack of testing facilities.

With a lockdown imposed in parts of the country, including Kabul, daily wage earners, internally displaced people and other marginalized are also at high risk – faced with the cruel choice between infection and starvation, in a country where the government is dependent on international assistance for three-quarters of its national budget.

 The western province of Herat is the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis, followed by Kabul, the capital. Both Herat and Kabul are where the majority of women prisoners are located.

To date 521 cases have been reported across the country, affecting 27 out of 34 provinces, and resulting in at least 15 deaths.

Afghanistan does not have the resources it needs to deal with this crisis. This makes it more important that the government takes whatever steps it can to limit the spread of the virus, starting with groups who are most at risks such as prisoners including women and marginalized.

 “It’s also crucial that the international community steps in to bolster the Afghan government’s efforts. Few countries have suffered as much as Afghanistan in recent years. The people of Afghanistan must not be abandoned at this crucial moment when they urgently need the world’s attention,” Biraj Patnaik said.

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ISIS-K leader reportedly living in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

Sanaullah Ghaffari, also known as Shahab al-Muhajar, is reportedly the ISIS-Khorasan (Daesh) branch leader and is holed up in Pakistan, Reuters reports.

The 29-year-old took over as leader in 2020 and under his leadership the group has carried out extreme attacks as a means of recruiting, Reuters reported.

Reuters noted that little was known about Ghafari before the deadly 2021 ISIS attack on Kabul Airport, which killed 170 Afghan civilians and 13 American soldiers.

But after Friday’s deadly attack in a concert hall in Moscow, which left 139 people dead, Ghaffari’s group has come under intense scrutiny.

Reuters reports that Ghaffari is said to have been involved in several attacks in Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan.

Pakistani officials said months ago that Ghaffari had been killed in Kunar province in Afghanistan in June last year, but Reuters has reported that he did not die and instead fled to Pakistan and lives in the border province of Baluchistan.

Abdul Matin Qani, the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior of Afghanistan, says that Daesh has been suppressed in Afghanistan for more than two years and has lost its operational capacity.

The last attack carried out by Daesh in Afghanistan was the attack on the Kabul Bank office in Kandahar last week which left three dead and 12 wounded.

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IPL: Sunrisers thump MI in record breaking match

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

It was raining records at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday with the hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) clinching a 31-run victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in Match 8 of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.

Sunrisers’ batting rewrote the record books on a batting belter after the posted 277 for three.

SRH now have the highest team score in the history of the IPL – beating Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) 263 for five from the 2013 season.

In reply, MI made a spirited effort, and at one stage, were contenders to do the near impossible. In the slog overs, the enormity of the target proved a bit too much, and SRH clinched victory, but not without numerous nervous moments.

To put into perspective the carnage we witnessed – Heinrich Klaasen’s 23-ball half-century was the slowest fifty of the SRH innings.

Travis Head, playing his first match for SRH, raced to the milestone in 18 balls. Abhishek Sharma got there even faster – in 16 balls – to record the quickest fifty by an SRH batter in IPL history.

While Sunrisers notched up the highest total in the 16-year history of the IPL, just as incredibly, Mumbai Indians almost paid them back with the same coin, their batters coming out with a nothing-to-lose attitude.

The sixes kept rolling off the Mumbai bats too, helping them keep up with the asking rate for most of the chase, eventually however, they ran out of steam and finished on 246 for 5, the highest IPL total in a losing cause.

As ESPNcricinfo reported, never were more runs scored in a men’s T20 match (523). Never were most sixes hit in a men’s T20 (38). At the end of the close to four-hour six-fest, only two bowlers returned with an economy rate of under ten an over.

Thursday, March 28 : Match 9

Thursday’s match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur sees Rajasthan Royals go up against Delhi Capitals.

Fans in Afghanistan can tune in to Ariana Television to watch the match live from 6.30pm. Alternatively the match can be screened live on arianatelevision.com

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Magnitude 5.2 quake jolts Afghanistan

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2024)

An earthquake measuring a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter Scale jolted Afghanistan on Thursday afternoon, the National Center for Seismology reported.

The quake was at a depth of 70km and epicentered in the mountainous north-eastern area of Ashkāsham.

The jolt was felt across the region including in Kabul, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan

There were no immediate reports of any casualties.

In October last year, over 2,000 people were killed when four 6.3-magnitude earthquakes struck in Herat province.

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