Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. Here, a Staff Correspondent for JURIST in Kabul reports on recent developments in the country, including the killing of two young men who worked as bodyguards for former members of the Afghan parliament.  For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding our Correspondent’s name. The text has been only lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.

The Taliban have tortured and then killed two bodyguards of former Parliament members and have started testing if people know how to pray in Uruzgan province.

Jawid Nazari and Sami Mujahed were working as bodyguards for two parliament members of Mazar province in the former government. Local media are reporting that the two were arrested by the Taliban at least a week ago in Mazar.

They were tortured and then killed. However, the Taliban have not made any statements on the issue. The Taliban have announced amnesty and stated that no public and private officials will be punished by them. But their recent actions say otherwise.

Since August this year, many are reported to have been killed by the Taliban and many others have been arrested too.

Additionally, the Taliban’s recent policies prove that in many circumstances they have not kept their promise to fully implement their amnesty procedure. In particular, the Ministry of Justice has announced that in all departments of this ministry people who have fought against the former government and have the same idea as the Taliban should be hired. This prevents equal employment in the country and encourages young and skilled people to leave the country.

Moreover, the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice policies for former government officials is harsh. They have banned women from appearing in the visual media and have made statements through which former government officials are called big criminals.

Additionally, local media are reporting that the Taliban connected to the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have examined people on whether or not they can and know how to pray in Uruzgan province. This ministry – in that province – have announced that people who do not wish to learn daily prayers will be punished.

The same policy was implemented during the Taliban’s first regime in 1990s in Afghanistan. At that time, people were beaten up in case they were found not attending the daily prayers.