Taliban ‘tortured and massacred’ Hazara men
Amnesty International says killings prove minorities are at risk from Afghanistan rulers

The Taliban recently tortured and killed members of the Hazara ethnic minority in Afghanistan, according to Amnesty International.
“Most of the Hazara are Shi’ite Muslims, whom Sunni hardliners like the Taliban abhor,” Reuters reported. According to the BBC, they have faced “long-term discrimination and persecution” in Afghanistan, where they are the third-largest ethnic group, and Pakistan.
Amnesty said it has received “harrowing” accounts from witnesses, who say the killings took place in July in Ghazni province.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Nine Hazara men reportedly died, six of whom were shot and three tortured to death. One had his arm muscles sliced off and another had his legs and arms broken and his hair pulled out. One of the victim’s chests was reportedly so riddled with bullets that he had to be buried in pieces.
When challenged by onlookers, a Taliban fighter said: “When it is the time of conflict, everyone dies, it doesn’t matter if you have guns or not. It is the time of war.”
Amnesty’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard, said the “targeted killings” are “proof that ethnic and religious minorities remain at particular risk under Taliban rule in Afghanistan”.
With mobile phone services cut in many of the regions captured by the Taliban, information about the killings last month has not emerged until now. Amnesty has called on the United Nations to investigate and protect those at risk.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
According to legend, the Hazara are descendants of Genghis Khan and his soldiers, who invaded Afghanistan in the 13th century.
The news of the attacks comes after several people were killed in the eastern city of Asadabad when Taliban fighters fired on people waving the national flag at a rally.
The New York Times said the rally was “a remarkable display of defiance, coming just a day after violence broke out at protests in two other cities, with Taliban members shooting into crowds and beating demonstrators”.
Meanwhile, Sky News reported that the Taliban has started “rounding up a blacklist of Afghans who worked with the fallen government, or American and British forces, and is threatening them with Sharia punishment”.
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?
Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered
-
Sudoku hard: October 5, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of Taiwan
In the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdown
IN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
-
The Taliban wages war on high-speed internet
THE EXPLAINER A new push to cut nationwide access to the digital world is taking Afghanistan back to the isolationist extremes of decades past
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American cities
Under the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
Kabul braces for a waterless future
THE EXPLAINER A confluence of manmade and environmental factors makes the Afghan city the first modern capital to risk running out of groundwater
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctions
The Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?
today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come