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Afghanistan Vice President Accused of Raping, Torturing Political Rival
MUJIB MASHAL, FAHIM ABED | DEC. 13, 2016
Excerpts:
MUJIB MASHAL, FAHIM ABED | DEC. 13, 2016
Excerpts:
- A political rival of Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum of Afghanistan said on Tuesday that he had been tortured and raped with an assault rifle after being abducted by General Dostum last month.
- In an interview with The New York Times, the political rival, Ahmad Ishchi, said he was badly abused by the general, who was the acting president at the time because President Ashraf Ghani was out of the country, and by the general’s men.
- “I can kill you right now, and no one will ask,” Mr. Ishchi said General Dostum told him. He claimed the vice president stepped on his throat and pressed down after he had already been beaten and bloodied.
- Multiple witnesses reported seeing General Dostum personally beating Mr. Ishchi and having his men drive away with him in a truck during a buzkashi match in northern Afghanistan last month. Despite repeated requests, General Dostum and his staff would not comment on the accusations at the time.
- The recent hostility broke out on Nov. 25, in northern Jowzjan Province, during a game of buzkashi between horsemen belonging to Mr. Ishchi on one side and General Dostum on the opposite. Mr. Ishchi, 63, said that the vice president summoned him over and was already fuming when he met him. He said General Dostum started insulting him, and then had his bodyguards throw Mr. Ishchi to the ground and stepped on his throat.
“He pressed for about two minutes like that,” Mr. Ishchi said. “There were around 2,000 people in the arena watching.”
He said his hands were tied behind him, and he was driven to General Dostum’s home in the back of an armored vehicle. “They stuck to me like a wolf does to sheep - tearing my vest, taking off my cape, my boots, and my pants,” he said.
In General Dostum’s private prison, he said he suffered intense abuse, including repeated beatings and being raped with the barrel of a Kalashnikov rifle by one of Mr. Dostum’s men, leaving him internally injured. His account could not be independently verified.
Mr. Ishchi said he remained a prisoner of General Dostum for five days before being handed over to local intelligence officers. The agency kept him for 10 days, releasing him after his wounds – he said his face looked “like a liver” the first time he looked in a mirror – were mostly healed, under the care of a doctor at the intelligence agency.
“What is my crime?” said Mr. Ishchi, showing a reporter bruises on his legs. “What right does he have to beat me up, to take me to his private prison? I will do anything I can to restore my honor, any door I can go to.”
