Publications

APPENDIX A: MUJAHIDIN PARTIES58

Mujahidin Parties Based in Pakistan:

· Harakat-e Inqilab-e Islami (Islamic Revolutionary Movement of Afghanistan), headed by Maulvi Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, is a coalition party of traditionalist clergy, with a Pashtun base and some Tajik and Uzbek support.

· Hezb-e Islami (Islamic Party) headed by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is the most ideologically radical of the "fundamentalist" Islamic parties. It is favored by the ISI and by Saudi Arabia. Throughout most of the war, it received the largest share of CIA covert military assistance provided to the resistance. It is supported mainly by Pashtuns but has some support from other ethnic groups.

· Hezb-e Islami (Islamic Party) headed by Yunis Khales is a splinter party that broke away from Hekmatyar's in 1979. It is a traditional Islamic coalition party with a Pashtun tribal base that is particularly strong in the Jalalabad area.

· Ittihad-e-Islami Bara-ye Azad-e Afghanistan (Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan) is headed by Professor Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, was established to attract support from Arab Wahhabi sources and has received considerable aid from Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). With that aid it has been able to attract commanders inside Afghanistan.

· Jamiat-e Islami (Islamic Society), headed by Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, an Islamic scholar, has a predominantly Tajik following withsome Pashtun support. It has closer ties to the traditional religious establishment than Hekmatyar's Hezb-e Islami party. It has the largest following of any of the parties and is considered the most moderate of the "fundamentalist" parties. Jamiat-e Islami's charismatic commander Ahmad Shah Massoud controls the Panjshir Valley and major parts of northeast Afghanistan.

· Jabha-yi-Najat-e-Milli (National Salvation Front) is led by Professor Sibghatullah Mojaddidi, the head of a family of prominent Kabul clerics of a Sufi (mystical) order. It has support among some elements close to the former monarchy and some tribal elements. It is the smallest party.

· The Mahaz-e-Milli-yi-Islami (National Islamic Front of Afghanistan or NIFA) is led by wealthy businessman Sayed Ahmed Gailani, a pir (spiritual master) who favors a return to a nationalist government. The party is favored by pro-royalist Pashtun tribes, especially near Qandahar and the east, and by Western-educated elites of the old regime. It is considered the most moderate of the parties.

Mujahidin Parties Based in Iran:

(There are a number of Shi'a parties based in Iran. These are considered the most active.

· Harakat-e Islami, headed by Sheikh Mohammad Asef Mohseni, is a radical Islamic party with urban Shi'a support.

· Sazman-e Nasr is a pro-Iranian Islamic radical party with support among Hazara intellectuals. It is the largest of the three main Shi'a parties.

· Sepah-e Gruh-e Pasdaran is associated with the Iranian Pasdaran (Guardians of the Revolution).

· Shura-ye-Ittefaq-e Inqilab-e Islami, headed by Sayyed Beheshti, is the only major traditionalist Shi'a party.

APPENDIX B: POLITICAL PARTIES REGISTERED WITH THE REPUBLIC OF AFGHANISTAN59

Political Parties Registered with the Republic of Afghanistan (as of July 1990):

· Afghanistan Workers Vanguard Party, headed by Mohammad Zahir Ufaq.

· Afghanistan Young Workers Vanguard Party, headed by Abdul Shakoor.

· Hezb-e-Hezbullah (Hezbullah Party), a Shi'a party headed by Sheikh Wasooqi. It is reportedly modeled on the Iranian party of the same name.

· Hezb-e Islami Afghanistan (Islamic Party of Afghanistan), headed by Hanifi. The party's following is Pashtun.

· Hezb-e-Karigaran Jawan Afghanistan (Afghanistan Young Workers Party), headed by Sofi Ashna. The party is associated with the Karigaran-e-Jawan Afghanistan (KAJA) and the Afghanistan Democracy Movement.

· Ittefaq-e-Mubarazan Sulh wa Taraqi Afghanistan (Union of Strugglers for Peace and Development of Afghanistan), headed by Zaman Gul.

· Ittehad-e Ansarullah (Union of Ansarullah), headed by Satar Mohammad Khadim. The party has mainly a Pashtun following.

· Ittehad-e-Hambastagi Afghanistan (Fedayan) (Union of Coordination of Afghanistan), headed by Mohammad Sarwar Nooristani.

· Ittehad-e-Melli Desqanan Afghanistan (National Union of Farmers of Afghanistan), headed by Abdul Hakim Tawana. The party reportedly publishes a newspaper by the name of Adalat. It has a mainly Pashtun following.

· Karigaran-e-Jawan Afghanistan (Workers of Afghanistan), headed by Abdul Ghafar Sharifi. It has a Tajik following.

· Nohmat-e-Democracy Afghanistan (Afghanistan Democracy Movement), formerly the SAZA party. It is headed by Manbullah Koshani. The SAZA party (also known as Setam-e Melli reportedly had Maoist leanings and endorsed Tajik and Uzbek separatism. The Nohmat-e-Democracy Afghanistan still has support among Tajiks. It reportedly publishes a newspaper, Maihan.

· SABZA Party, headed by Tazah Khan (Uiar), the party has a mainly Pashtun following.

· Sazman-e-Karigaran Afghanistan (Afghanistan Workers Organization) headed by Satar Serat. The party was formerly known as Hezb-e Islami.

· Sazman-e-Zahmat Kashan-e-Afghanistan. (SAZA) It is headed by Hamidullah Gran and has a mainly Pashtun following.

· Watan (Homeland), formerly People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, headed by President Najibullah. The PDPA has been the ruling party in Afghanistan since the 1978 coup. Payam is the party's publication.

APPENDIX C: PARTIAL LIST OF PRISONERS

During the Asia Watch mission to Afghanistan in July and August 1990, we requested information from the Ministry of State Security about a number of prisoners whose cases had come to our attention as disappearances, torture cases, or possible examples of people imprisoned for non-violent political activity. In all cases, we were concerned about the fairness of the trial proceedings involved. The government responded in writing on the following cases.

· Amin Yusufzai, former Director of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Planning, was reportedly detained at Kabul airport in January 1986, after he was found to be carrying a photograph of his brother, a member of the mujahidin. The Ministry of State Security informed Asia Watch that on January 19 1986, Yusufzai was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on charges of spying.

· Hisamuddin Mehmud, an Egyptian journalist was arrested in 1989 along with a Saudi journalist, Abdul Rahman. The Ministry of State Security informed Asia Watch that Mehmud was charged with "taking part in military operations in Ningrahar Province and participation in armed revolt against the Government of the Republic of Afghanistan." He was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment. The Ministry of State Security provided no information on the fate of Abdul Rahman.

· Seyed Hamza, son of Sayed Mahboob, was arrested on December 24, 1987. According to Amnesty International, he was reportedly tortured during interrogation at Sedarat and was not allowed family visits. He was sentenced to death on April 20, 1988. The Ministry of State Security informed Asia Watch that Seyed Hamza was charged with being a member of Jamiat-e Islami and with "transporting ammunition from Pakistan into Republic of Afghanistan, firing of 12 surface-to-surface rockets on residential areas of Kabul, and several other anti-stateactivities." His death sentence has yet to be approved by President Najibullah.60

· A number of Afghans who had been employed at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul were arrested in the early years of the war. Six who were arrested in 1982 and 1983 remain in jail. They are:

Ghulam Sakhi Ahmadzai, arrested in April 1982.

Jalaluddin Talibee, arrested in April 1983.

Abdul Qayum, arrested in April 1983.

Abdul Kudus Kadri, arrested in March 1983.

Mohammed Essa, arrested in March 1982.

Fazal Ahmad, arrested in April 1983.

The Ministry of State Security informed Asia Watch that all six were sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment on charges of spying.

· Dr. Mohammad Younis Akbari, a nuclear physicist who was arrested in 1983 on charges of "being member of a Maoist movement," "indulging in activities against the law," "distributing arms to extremist elements," and "persuading people to participate in armed revolt against the government," was sentenced to death by hanging by a Special Revolutionary Court in 1984. The Ministry of State Security informed Asia Watch that the sentence had been carried out, but they did not inform us when Akbari was executed.

· Syed Abdul Samad and Mohammad Nazar were tried and convicted of spying in January 1988 after they entered Afghanistan illegally with French journalist Alain Guillo (who was released in May 1988 after an appeal by President Mitterand). Samad and Nazar were sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment. According to Guillo, they were accompanying him as bodyguard and translator. The Ministry of State Security informed Asia Watch that Samad had been sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for spying and avoiding military service, and that Mohammad Nazar had been sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for cooperating with Alain Guillo and avoiding military service.

· Commander Abdul Wahed was captured in the Paranda Valley, Panjshir in 1984. His arrest was widely publicized by the government, after which he was believed to have disappeared. The Ministry of State Security informed Asia Watch that a Special Revolutionary Court had sentenced Abdul Wahed to death by hanging and that the sentence was carried out in 1985.

· Shinwari, son of Safdar from Gulbuta, Dara-i-Noor, outside Jalalabad, was arrested after a government bombardment of the area while he was reportedly trying to remove mines that had been placed by government forces. The Ministry of State Security informed Asia Watch that he had been charged with "indulging in terrorist and destructive activities, organizing explosions, and having links with Hezb-e Islami (Hekmatyar)." He has been sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.

58 For a further explanation of the history of these parties, see Olivier Roy, Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp. 219-220. See also Afghanistan: The Making of U.S. Policy 1973-1990 (Alexandria, VA: National Security Archives and Chadwyck-Healey, Inc., forthcoming in March, 1991).

59 Information about these parties is derived primarily from official government (Republic of Afghanistan) sources. Many of the associations listed appear to represent specific interest groups and not political parties. For a discussion of Asia Watch's concerns about freedom of association in Afghanistan, see chapter 5.

60 See Amnesty International, "Urgent Action: Afghanistan: Seyed Hamza, son of Seyed Mahboob," AI Index: ASA 11/12/90, November 14, 1990.