Afghanistan: Condemnation of hanging of 15-year-old boy by Taleban

Amnesty International has condemned the Taleban’s hanging of a 15-year-old boy, supposedly for “spying”.

The killing, of a boy named Zainullah, occurred on 30 September, when he taken from a bazaar where he worked as a key-maker in Sangin district, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, by Taleban fighters.

The group hanged him from an electrical utility pole with a note warning that others caught spying would suffer the same fate.

Amnesty International condemns all unlawful killings, particularly of Children's rights, and calls for all such attacks to be investigated, promptly, independently and thoroughly, and for those responsible to be brought to justice in accordance with international standards of fairness.

Article 3 Common to the four Geneva Conventions, which is binding on all parties to the armed conflict in Afghanistan, prohibits "violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds," a prohibition which applies in all circumstances.

Amnesty calls for the Afghan government to investigate the unlawful killing and for the Taleban to publicly renounce the use of illegal actions such as kidnapping and unlawful killings, including those following quasi-judicial proceedings flouting international humanitarian law.