UN expert decries ‘systematic’ attacks on Afghan Shia groups

A woman prays in front of the graves at a Hazara cemetery for the Shia community on a hill on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan [File: Jorge Silva/Reuters]

Hazara and other Shia Muslim communities in Afghanistan are facing what seem to be “systematic” attacks that could amount to international crimes, a United Nations expert has warned.

Afghanistan’s Hazaras have faced decades of abuse and state-sponsored discrimination, including by the ruling Taliban, which first ran the country from 1996 to 2001 and then seized power again in August last year.