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Kandahar: More than 200 Taliban suspects have gone on a hunger strike in the Kandahar prison to demand fair trials, officials said Sunday.
The prisoners have not eaten for about six days, and three are in poor condition, said Bismillah Afghanmul, one of the provincial council members who met with the prisoners to try to resolve the situation. He said he met with nine prisoners who had taped their mouths shut.
The prisoners are demanding fair and independent trials as well as the presence of defence lawyers during the investigations and hearings, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission said in a statement.
They also complained that some of the cases have not gone before a court, leaving the detainees' fates in limbo, the commission said.
Justice Minister Mohammad Sarwar Danesh said they are right to be upset.
"The prisoners have reason to criticise because the justice system is working a little slowly," Danesh said.
He said the country's top judge met with the Kandahar governor on Saturday, and a Supreme Court delegation would meet with local officials in an effort to resolve the problem.
According to the human rights commission's statement, the prisoners complained that foreign troops searched their homes on the basis of faulty intelligence, many cases had languished without trial, and they were tortured and humiliated during the investigations.
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