Afghans deported from Germany end up in prison in Kabul

The criminals deported from Germany are back in prison in Afghanistan. However, the conditions there are probably much tougher.

The Taliban have imprisoned the criminals deported to Afghanistan last Friday in a notorious prison. The 28 people are said to be incarcerated in Pul-e-Charkhi prison near Kabul, reports Bild, citing Afghan sources. The conditions in the country's largest prison have been criticized in the past by the United Nations, among others, as inhumane.

The deportation flight was the first since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan three years ago. The Afghan criminals were brought to Leipzig from all over Germany and from there flown to Kabul on board a Boeing 787. Some of them were serious criminals who had committed crimes such as rape, physical assault and child abuse.

After the fatal knife attack in Mannheim at the end of May – by a man from Afghanistan – the German government began working on deportations to the country. However, there had been no direct contact with the Taliban government, stressed government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. The Green Party's interior expert Lamya Kaddor allegedly played a central role in organizing the deportation flight to the Emirate of Qatar.

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The human rights organization Amnesty International Germany sharply criticized the deportation flight. No one is safe in Afghanistan, “extrajudicial executions, disappearances and torture are the order of the day,” said Secretary General Julia Duchrow. However, according to Hebestreit, the federal government will have taken “precautions” for the safety of the Afghans. Hebestreit did not reveal exactly what these are.

This probably did not protect them from ending up in Pul-e-Charkhi prison. The complex was established in the 1970s and was the scene of executions and repercussions during the Soviet-Afghan war.

In 2007, the US military began transferring its own prisoners within the prison. The United States then repeatedly announced that it would close the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay and transfer the prisoners to Afghanistan. To this end, the US has partially renovated the prison in recent years.

Until August 2021, Pul-e-Charkhi prison was home to mostly Taliban prisoners. Then the Islamist terrorist group took control of the country and freed the prisoners. Some of the inmates then became guards.

According to reports from international organizations, the medical conditions are said to be devastating. Many cells are overcrowded, there is hardly any water and only a few toilets. In the winter of 2022, 120 prisoners froze to death there, it is said.

It is still unclear what will happen to the deported prisoners. “Every single case is now being investigated. A court will then decide what will happen to them,” a Taliban representative told Bild.