US Ambassador John Bass said on Tuesday that Afghanistan’s intelligence agency coerced confessions from civil society activists who were detained after claiming sexual abuse of children in central Logar province.
Mohammad Musa Mahmudi was detained along with his colleague Ehsanullah Hamidi after his civil society organization, the Logar Youth, Social and Civil Institution, revealed they had uncovered the sexual abuse of more than 500 schoolboys.
NDS in a statement said that Mahmudi made up the claims to seek asylum for his family in a foreign country. A confession video showed him saying he made a mistake.
However, their detention has been condemned by human rights organizations and Western envoys.
US Ambassador John Bass said that the NDS coerced confessions from the activists.
“Deeply disturbed by these Soviet-style tactics of the NDS Afghanistan,” Bass said on Twitter. “It’s appalling to coerce confessions from civil society activists whose goal is to protect Afghan children.”
He said that NDS’s action against the activists was “totally unacceptable.”
German Ambassador Peter Prugel said that the act was “shameful and embarrassing and profoundly disturbs my perception of a professional NDS.”
UN mission in Afghanistan also called for immediate release of the human rights defenders from detention.
President Ashraf Ghani said on Twitter he instructed NDS to stop the proceedings against the activists.
“The protection of civil society and human rights defenders is the sole responsibility of the security forces,” he said.
The president said that sexual abuse cases must be dealt and investigated by the attorney general’s office and Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
A source in NDS told 1TV that the activists were handed over to Afghanitan Independent Human Rights Commission.
The source also rejected claim that the confessions were coerced.
