07 October 2025 :

Taliban have released 72 prisoners from a jail in the northern province of Sar-e-Pul under orders from their leader, while reducing the sentences of 95 others, local sources told Amu on October 6, 2025.
However, the sources said political prisoners and those accused of “propaganda” against the Taliban were not among those released or granted clemency.
A relative of one inmate, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said that most of those freed were individuals linked to or affiliated with the Taliban, while political detainees remain behind bars.
“My family member in the Sar-e-Pul prison told me that none of the political prisoners were freed,” the relative said.
Taliban have not commented publicly on the reported releases.
The move comes amid continued international criticism of the Taliban’s human rights record. The US State Department’s 2024 Human Rights Report said the Taliban have built an “institutionalized structure of repression” against women, girls, and critics of their rule — describing it as “widespread and systematic” and potentially amounting to crimes against humanity.
The report also cited findings from UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and Human Rights Watch, all of which documented enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and other serious abuses under Taliban rule.
Bennett said he had received firsthand testimonies from victims and witnesses of such disappearances, including human rights defenders, legal experts, and protesters — many of them women.
While the US report noted evidence of war crimes and possible genocide, it added that Washington has not yet made a formal determination regarding crimes against humanity committed by the Taliban.