Afghan Election Staff Abducted as Taliban Claims Attack in Kandahar

Gunmen attack a voter registration station in Ghor, Afghanistan. (AFP)
Gunmen attack a voter registration station in Ghor, Afghanistan. (AFP)
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Afghan Election Staff Abducted as Taliban Claims Attack in Kandahar

Gunmen attack a voter registration station in Ghor, Afghanistan. (AFP)
Gunmen attack a voter registration station in Ghor, Afghanistan. (AFP)

Gunmen attacked on Tuesday a voter registration center in Afghanistan where they kidnapped five people.

Three of the captives are employees. They also destroyed documents, official said of the incident that took place in the central province of Ghor.

It sparked concerns about security in the lead-up to the war-torn country's long-delayed legislative elections scheduled for October 20.

Armed men stormed the center in Aliyar district as Independent Election Commission staff were registering voters, provincial police spokesman Mohammad Iqbal Nizami told AFP, blaming the Taliban.

The group was not immediately available for comment.

Nizami said the militants abducted three IEC staff and two policemen charged with protecting the registration center.

"They also set all the voter registration materials on fire," Nizami said. "We are investigating and have launched a search operation."

Ghor governor spokesman Abdul Hai Khatibi confirmed the incident and said tribal leaders and elders were in talks with the local Taliban to free the IEC staff and police.

On Wednesday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a bombing in the southern Kandahar province.

The attack left five people dead, including a police commander, an Afghan official said.

A Kandahar police spokesman said Colonel Janan Mama, commander of the border rapid reaction force, three of his police bodyguards and a civilian were killed in the blast.

The spokesman, Zia Durrani, said the sticky bomb was placed on the commander's vehicle in Kandahar city, the provincial capital.

The Taliban claimed responsibility in a statement sent to media. The insurgent group routinely targets Afghan officials and security forces.

Afghanistan last weekend began registering voters as it seeks to ensure that the parliamentary and district council elections -- which are a test-run for the presidential poll next year -- are seen as credible and fraud-free.

In an operation that will last for two months, authorities hope to register up to 14 million adults at more than 7,000 polling centers -- an ambitious goal in a country where militants control or contest much of the territory.

IEC officials have acknowledged that ensuring security at voter registration centers, particularly in rural areas, will be a major challenge.

Afghanistan's beleaguered security forces, already struggling to get the upper hand on the battlefield, have been tasked with protecting voter registration centers, which will be used as polling stations on election day.

More than 50,000 people in major cities have so far registered to vote, an IEC official told AFP on Wednesday.

He acknowledged it had "started slowly" but the process was gaining momentum.

The polls were originally set to be held in 2015 following presidential elections the previous year, but were repeatedly pushed back due to security fears and logistical issues within the fragile unity government.

If held, candidates will contest the 249 seats in the National Assembly for five-year terms. The country will also hold regional elections in tandem in hundreds of districts across Afghanistan -- some of which are outside Kabul's control.



Hundreds Rally in Paris for Iranian Women’s Rights

A protester holds a placard as she takes part in a march on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, arrested for allegedly violating the dress code for women at Place de la Bastille, in Paris on September 15, 2024. (AFP)
A protester holds a placard as she takes part in a march on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, arrested for allegedly violating the dress code for women at Place de la Bastille, in Paris on September 15, 2024. (AFP)
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Hundreds Rally in Paris for Iranian Women’s Rights

A protester holds a placard as she takes part in a march on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, arrested for allegedly violating the dress code for women at Place de la Bastille, in Paris on September 15, 2024. (AFP)
A protester holds a placard as she takes part in a march on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, arrested for allegedly violating the dress code for women at Place de la Bastille, in Paris on September 15, 2024. (AFP)

Hundreds of people marched through Paris on Sunday in support of women's rights and the opposition in Iran, two years after the death of Mahsa Amini sparked protests against the country's religious authorities.

A 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, Amini died in custody after being arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.

The march, organized by around 20 human rights associations, took place as 34 women began a hunger strike in a Tehran prison to mark the two-year anniversary of her death.

Chirinne Ardakani, a Franco-Iranian lawyer and member of the "Iran Justice" collective, said that the "sacrifices" made by Iranians opposed to the regime were "not in vain".

"Everything has changed in Iran," Ardakani told AFP.

"We've gone from an absolutely patriarchal culture, where there was no question of women being able to reveal themselves in the street, to massive support for these women," the lawyer and activist added.

The march in solidarity with the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement was attended by Benjamin Briere and Louis Arnaud, two Frenchmen who were arrested and arbitrarily detained in Iran.

Iran is accused of arresting Westerners without cause and using them as bargaining chips in state-to-state negotiations, with French diplomats describing these prisoners as "state hostages".

Briere was eventually released in May 2023, while Arnaud was let go the month after.

"Yes, I was in prison, but it is an immense honor to have been able to live among you, freedom fighters, who shared my suffering," Arnaud told the crowd, in his first public address since his release.

Three other French nationals are still being held in Iran.

After Amini died in custody on September 16, 2022, the women-led protests which erupted rattled Iran's leadership that autumn and winter.

But the demonstrations were then crushed by the authorities, with rights group Amnesty International saying security forces used assault rifles and shotguns in the crackdown.

Human rights groups say at least 551 people were killed. Thousands more were arrested, according to the United Nations.