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| Afghanistan |
| Dostum releases more riff-raff |
| 2002-05-24 |
| Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who controls the prison in Shibergan, put 512 men on buses to Kabul, said Faiz Zaki, Gen. Dostum's spokesman. All were Afghans, mostly ethnic Pashtuns from the south, he said. That freed up almost a whole shipping container... Another northern Afghan commander, Atta Mohammed, released eight ethnic Uzbeks — one Afghan and seven citizens of Uzbekistan — who had been held for six months in a jail in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif after being captured by forces battling the Taliban. The eight were handed over to Uzbek officials at the Hairaton border crossing, Mr. Mohammed said. An Uzbek Interior Ministry official confirmed the handover. While they were happy to be let out of their shipping container after six months, they weren't happy when the Uzbek coppers began beating them with truncheons... Yesterday's prisoner release left 600 Afghans and 600 Pakistanis still incarcerated in the Shibergan prison, infamous for its poor conditions and lack of food, Mr. Zaki said. On the other hand, they're not dead, are they? Most of them, anyway. Gen. Dostum, who is also a deputy defense minister in the interim Afghan administration, freed more than 200 inmates earlier this month and 800 more earlier this week after an appeal by interim leader Hamid Karzai. More than 200 were returned to their native Pakistan while 600 went home to southern Afghanistan. Wonder how many of them are back in the tough guy business by now? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |