Afghans hopeful for peaceful end to prison standoff

PUL-I-CHARKHI, Afghanistan - The Afghan government said today it hoped for a peaceful resolution to a revolt by hundreds of inmates of Kabul's main prison.

Four prisoners have been killed and 38 wounded since more than 1,000 prisoners took over parts of the Pul-i-Charkhi prison on Kabul's eastern outskirts on Saturday, prisoners told a human rights lawyer.

The revolt is led by Taleban commanders and a kidnap gang leader facing a death sentence for the kidnap of an Italian aid worker last year.

Sibghatullah Mojadidi, a former president who heads a state-appointed peace commission trying to encourage Taleban insurgents to lay down their arms, held talks with the prisoners.

"We are trying our best to solve this issue and the prisoners have accepted that they will not resort to rebellion," he told reporters. "I told them to go back to their own blocks and tomorrow they will be shifted to another block."

Nader Nadery of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, which has been involved in talks with the prisoners, said inmates had taken over a wing housing about 70 women inmates and their children, whose safety was a concern.

Prison governor Salaam Bakhshi said male and female prisoners were now in their own blocks. "We have sent them food," he said, adding that the government would consider the prisoners' demands.

Mojadidi said the prisoners had agreed to allow treatment of the wounded and preparations for the burial of any dead.

Justice Minister Sarwar Danish said he hoped the talks would bear fruit on Tuesday.

"We are hopeful for a peaceful end to this problem," he said, adding that no hostages were being held and that three Americans inmates were not caught up in the unrest.

Hundreds of police and troops backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers have been surrounding the prison. They included US troops from a force battling Taleban guerrillas.

RINGLEADERS

Nadery said riot ringleaders included Timoor Shah, head of a gang that kidnapped an Italian aid worker, while police named the Taleban commanders as Mullah Mujadid and Mullah Shahidzai.

Nadery said Taleban suspects, about 200 of whom were being held without trial, were demanding to be tried or freed.

Prisoners were also demanding the removal of cell bars and an end to a new rule requiring them to wear uniforms.

Officials said inmates did not appear to have guns but police said they had makeshift clubs made from broken furniture.

Deputy Justice Minister Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai said earlier that efforts to negotiate had been complicated by the fact that the prisoners did not have a single representative and two had been beaten up by inmates after talks on Sunday.

Prison governor Bakhshi said two female guards captured in the initial riot were freed late on Saturday.

Sporadic gunfire was heard from the prison complex on Sunday, when prisoners burned bedding and chanted "Allahu Akbar", or "God is Greatest" and "Long live the prisoners".

Leo Dobbs, a spokesman for Afghanistan's UN mission, said UN experts on prison riots had advised the government.

"The UN believes that further negotiations, if conducted properly, could lead to a peaceful outcome," he said.

Thousands of Afghans who opposed communist rule were killed and tortured at Pul-i-Charki jail in the 1980s and there has been recent unrest.

Officials said blue prison uniforms were issued to prevent a repeat of an escape last month by seven Taleban who mingled with visitors. And in December 2004, four policemen and four inmates died in a siege at the jail when militants attempted a breakout.

- REUTERS