The Times
Jerome Starkey in Kabul

Ringed with razor wire and high fences, Afghanistan’s counter narcotics court is supposed to be a beacon of incorruptible justice in a country, and a court system, awash with corruption.

The high-security compound on the outskirts of Kabul was designed with British and American help to convict Afghanistan’s most wanted drug lords — the untouchables at the top of the heroin cartels — and the results have been extraordinary. So good that more than 900 defence attorneys have gone on strike, claiming justice there is a sham.

“The judges just ignore the evidence, they don’t care,” said Rohullah Qarizada, the president of the Afghan Independent Bar Association. “They just convict. The role of the defence lawyers is merely symbolic.”

Conviction rates are more than 90 per cent. In the nine months to December, the Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) primary court convicted 310 out of 343 people. The appeal court convicted 394 of 427. The bar association says it is proof that defence lawyers have been sidelined. Court insiders say it is because the burden of proof is set high before the cases come to trial. (Read more…)