Ranjbar says his rights violated in detention

KABUL): Former lawmaker Abdul Kabir Ranjbar, who faces charges of rape and abducting a young girl, has claimed his fundamental human rights were infringed under the guise of his one and a half month detention by the intelligence service.

In a statement, the ex-Wolesi Jirga member asked parliament and human rights organisations to intervene into his case and defend his civil rights.

Ranjbar was arrested by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) two months ago and was released after spending 24 hours in a detention facility at the AGO and was again arrested by the prosecution office of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) on June 23, 2012.

Deputy Attorney General Rahmatullah Nazari at that time said Ranjbar had been arrested on the charge of rapping a girl in abduction.

After his release from the AGO facility, Ranjabar told a press conference that if he was guilty then why he was released and if not guilt why he was arrested and put behind the bars. He rejected the charges against him.

In the statement, Ranjbar asked the people, parliamentarians, leaders of political parties and social institutions, foreign embassies in Kabul, media outlets, civil society organisations, national and international organisations of human rights and UNAMA to defend his rights.

He said his detention by the NDS prosecution office was against article 11 of crime law of the attorney’s office. He claimed the arrest documents had been prepared with his fake signature. He had been shown no reason of his arrest, something against article 31 of the constitution, he said.

 “On June 24, Nazari accused me of abduction and rape through media while I didn’t commit these crimes. The only wealth I possessed was my status and honour which I gained after a long lasting struggle, scarifies and patience, but the conspiracy hatched by the AGO destroyed my status. In fact they killed my personality,” he said in the statement.

“Instead of finding any immediate solution to the case, they detained me on July 3 for a second time at the NDS detention facility to suppress my voice and deprive me of the freedom of expression.  They once again violated the article 11 of crime law and sent me to jail for 15 days by misusing their authority,” he said.

He said he had been in detention over the past one and a half month, but his case was yet to be investigated, adding under article 36 of the crime law, an attorney can keep an accused person in detention for maximum 15 days.

After the 15 days, he said, the prosecution office had to seek extension in detention from court, but the NDS department imprisoned him three times longer than the legal time and did not investigate his case, he said.

The politician insists he had married the girl and had not kidnapped or rapped her. After his release from the AGO detention facility, Ranjbar told a press conference that the Attorney General Office had violated article 25 of the constitution that considers an accused innocent until convicted by a court.

But the girl, Spogmai has said Ranjbar raped her while he was drunk before their marriage. “Ranjbar has to plead guilty. First of all, I want him punished for raping me and seek the right of a wife according to Islam’s rules,” she said in an interview with Pajhwok Afghan News.

She also accused the AGO of using “inappropriate” words against her, asking the office for apology to her and people of Deh Sabz district for committing insult to her.

Ranjbar told the press conference that Spogmai, daughter of Mahir, a resident of Tarakhel area of Kabul, had run away from her house.

She asked Ranjbar for help as a human rights activist on Jan. 17, introducing her as “Diwa” from Laghman, the politician has said, adding he took the girl to a women’s shelter house and later she started living with another woman named as Ogai Amel elsewhere.

He claimed Spogmai had repeatedly proposed him and had several times tried to commit suicide on his refusal to marry her. “So finally I have to marry her to save her life,” Ranjbar said, showing copies of a Nikah Nama (marriage document).

Ranjbar said he did not seek police help fearing the matter could expose to the media. “When Spogmai revealed her real name, her father’s name and address after our marriage, I sent her to her father’s house on Eid-ul-Adha day last year,” he said.

He said Spogmai was still in her father’s house because her father wanted $200,000 from him to arrange a formal wedding party.

However, Spogmai’s father, Mahir said he had asked Ranbar for organising a simple wedding party after they had legally tied the knot. He called for punishment to those encouraged her daughter to run away from house. He said Ranjbar was involved in her daughter’s runaway and was now refusing to accept his demand.

The 22-years old, Spogmai, currently lives in her father’s house in Tarakhel area of Deh Sabz district. She said Ranjbar was her husband and that she would not seek divorce from him and would never abandon him.

myn/ma

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