The Guardian of Liberty - Nemzetőr, 1983 (6. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1983-03-01 / 2. szám

BI-MONTHLY B 20435 Ir THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY (NEMZETŐR) Vol. XXVII MARCH-APRIL, 1983 "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion" Article 18 Universal Declaration of Human Rights EYE-WITTNESSES DESCRIBE KABUL TORTURES O oviet-supervised tortures in Kabul’s ^ ' Ministry of the Interior were describ­ed by eye-witnesses at a recent three-day “International Afghanistan Hearing“ held in Oslo, Noway. One of the witnesses, 42-year-old Moham­med Ayyoub Assil, formerly lectured at the university and police college in Kabul, hav­ing studied law in Egypt and Japan. He had the rank of colonel in the police. Assil estimated that, in the Interior Min­istry alone, about 12 000 Afghans had died following torture since the start of the Rus­sian military occupation in December 1979. The dead were persons suspected of having links with the Muslim guerrillas fighting the Soviet troops. Until shortly before he left Afghanistan last November Assil was required by the Russian-controlled Babrak Karmai regime to attend interrogations in the ministry and report in writing on what suspects were forced to “confess.“ He described various methods of physical and mental torture used under the super­vision of Soviet “advisers“, with the Rus­sians themselves sometimes personally par­ticipating. These included: giving electric shocks to sensitive parts of the body, in­cluding genital organs, pulling out hair, sus­pending suspects upsidedown for long pe­riods, and letting them be savaged by dogs. Describing lesser ordeals, Assil said that he himself had seen Russians bending back the necks of suspects and urinating into their mouths. Women prisoners were tied to beds and raped. Then sharp objects were pushed into their vaginas. Assil stated that in March, 1980, he witnessed the repeated raping of a woman eight months pregnant. Her hus­band was tied to the wall and forced to watch. “I will never forget the woman’s screams“, Assil said. He mentioned other atrocities, including “hunting parties“ in which Soviet pilots and KGB personnel flew in helicopters over Af­ghan villages. “First“, he said, “they drop bombs, so that people are frightened and run out of their houses. Then the Russians shoot at them..." Assil spoke thus about large-scale execu­tions: “Many of those arrested just disap­pear. There is no trial, no legal proceed­ings ... Many people are killed to make room far new arrivals“ (in the prisons). Describing how the executions are organ­ised, he said: “Frequently trucks ten at a time filled with prisoners, are driven to the place of execution, where people are shot and shovelled into massgraves.“ Summing up, Assil stated that normal le­gal practices and respect for the law had now disappearred in Afghanistan and there was essentially only one definition of a crime: “something going against Soviet in­terests“. A refugee since last November, Assil was permitted to leave Afghanistan to go to Mecca as an interpreter. He stated that he bad worked until then in the Ministry of the Interior “under in­struction“ from Afghan Muslim guerrillas. He added that “many freedom fighters“ ostensibly worked for the Karmai regime, “and they are useful to us“. He himself belongs to the Mahaz Afghan Resistance Party. (Continued on page 2) Afghan guerrillas do not surrender despfte torture, killings and chemical warfare CONTENTS: Captured Gas-suits on Display 2 Puppets Admit Economic Troubles 3 Chemical Training Inaugurated 3 Psychiatrist Six Months in Pun. Cell 4 ,3 0-0 Back Jailed Trade Unionists' 5 Invaders’ Friend Talks about... 6-7 Warsaw now Praises Sikorski 8 Marx’s Sad Centenary 8 Surinam Drifts towards Dictatorship 9 Bid To Re-employ Exposed Spies 10 The Caribbean Prussians’ 10 Sixth Arrest of Ukrainian Catholic 11 Yugoslav Unmasks Imperialism 12

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