MS Noori works for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in the volatile province of Kandahar in the south of Afghanistan. On 1 April 2007, armed men raided his house. He told IRIN of his bitter experience.
“It was 7:40 to 7:50 pm and we were watching TV powered by a generator. There was a bang at our door that scared all of us in the room. We were all numbed and at a loss as to what to do. Seconds later, my brother, who works for the UN, was the first who broke the numbness and ran upstairs. I followed him. We realised that some people were trying to break the roof-door and break into our rooms.
“My brother shouted: ‘Who is this?’ We heard only a brute reply, ordering us to open the door. They didn’t say who they were and what they wanted. We thought they were burglars and started shouting: ‘Thieves, thieves’, in an effort to alert our neighbours.
“I went downstairs to warn everyone about the situation and as I was crossing an open space I noticed a red spot on my body. I threw myself into a corridor and heard the sound of a bullet over my head.
“Then we heard an explosion. And another, bigger, explosion that broke all the windows and glasses in our house. Soon after the second bang, I saw armed men in military uniforms running towards us. There were more than 30 men, who spoke English in American accents and Pashto [a language spoken in Afghanistan]. I think two of them were Americans and the rest were Afghans.
“I wanted to let my family know that they were US soldiers, but the men ordered me to shut my mouth and afterwards I was blindfolded and handcuffed. They put all my personal belongings in a plastic bag and hanged it around my neck. I was told to sit cross-legged facing the wall.
“My brother was in a similar condition, but his handcuffs were threaded to explosives placed at the entrance of the room.
“They put all the female members of our family in a separate room. We were really worried for their safety because there was no female soldier among the intruders.
“The armed men then started to search the house violently. They broke nearly all locks and opened all boxes. They also broke my computer and turned everything into a mess.
“While they were searching, I tried to introduce myself to them in English, but I was told that I didn’t have the right to talk.
“After about half an hour, I heard them talking about the UN. I think that was the time when they found my brother’s job identity card. After a while, they released our hands and apologised for mistakenly breaking into our house. They also said the damages would be compensated for and left.
“We reported the incident to the local police, but we know they can’t do anything.
“Now we are so scared that if a cat walks on our roof at night, we all fear that they are back. Our children are so frightened that they cry a lot at night.”
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
