Supreme Court Rejects UNAMA Claims of Civilians Tried in Military Courts

The Supreme Court, responding to part of UNAMA’s recent report on the situation of military courts in Afghanistan, has rejected claims that civilians are being tried in military courts.

Mansour Ahmad Hamza, deputy spokesperson for the Supreme Court, said UNAMA’s claim does not correspond with reality and that no civilian has been tried by a military court.

Hamza stressed that the Islamic Emirate’s courts seek to conduct judicial proceedings in accordance with Islamic Sharia, while protecting people’s rights and preventing what he described as “injustice.”

Mansour Ahmad Hamza, deputy spokesperson for the Supreme Court, said: “We clearly reject the report published by UNAMA claiming that civilians have been tried in military courts and describing this as contrary to international law. We say this claim does not correspond with reality in any way. The courts of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan have always sought to carry out their responsibilities fairly, in accordance with Sharia, to enforce laws, protect people’s rights and prevent injustice. No civilian has been tried by a military court.”

The deputy spokesperson for the Supreme Court called on those preparing UNAMA reports to use accurate and documented information before making such claims so that, in his words, an inaccurate picture of the situation in Afghanistan is not presented.

Last week, UNAMA, in a 28-page report, expressed concern over what it described as continuing gaps in transparency and accountability within the security institutions.

In the report, UNAMA also raised concerns about the jurisdiction of military courts to try civilians, stressing that under international human rights standards, civilians should ordinarily be tried before independent civilian courts.

Khalil Ahmad Nadem, a legal expert, said: “This should also be observed in Afghanistan because if civilians are tried in military courts, justice may not be ensured.”

Fazl Rahman Orya, a political analyst, said: “Military courts are established to try military personnel. That is what distinguishes them from ordinary courts. For this reason, I do not think civilians have been tried in such courts.”

Previously, the spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan also said that security forces are accountable for their actions and that the government is working to strengthen accountability within the security institutions.