Tuesday
Jun242008
Afghanistan: Not playing by the rule of law
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 5:20PM
Dr. Adbul Jabbar Sabit, the Attorney General of Afghanistan spoke about the rule of law and its presence in Afghanistan. He said rule of law is a problem in Afghanistan and in the last 20 months he visited 18 provinces and made around 370 arrests. He said the arrests were mainly high-ranking officials, like deputy governors and chief financial officers of the provinces.
He said one of the main problems with the rule of law in Afghanistan is that the court system, which is completely independent, is full of corruption. As a result, he said, a fair percent of the perpetrators were acquitted and those that were convicted received much less severe sentences than their crimes called for.
He said that in a lot of provinces not all citizens are equal, for example, some of the governors are really warlords and perpetrate criminal action in their provinces. Sadit said that these warlord governors are too powerful for the government to restrain and therefore above the law.
He said one of the main problems with the rule of law in Afghanistan is that the court system, which is completely independent, is full of corruption. As a result, he said, a fair percent of the perpetrators were acquitted and those that were convicted received much less severe sentences than their crimes called for.
He said that in a lot of provinces not all citizens are equal, for example, some of the governors are really warlords and perpetrate criminal action in their provinces. Sadit said that these warlord governors are too powerful for the government to restrain and therefore above the law.
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