Reform and Revision of Afghan Penal Code Group submits part one of the revised penal code to the Ministry of Justice of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

In a gathering held at the Ministry of Justice Conference hall on 1 May 2016, the first amendments part of the Afghan Penal Code was submitted to the Ministry of Justice of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

His Excellency Justice Minister Dr. Abdul Basir Anwar, welcome representatives of afghan judicial sectors, international guests and civil society representatives saying: “This massive national project raised the issue of revising the penal code due to existence of several legislative documents, emersion of new crimes and challenges the judicial sector was facing.”

H.E added: “The penal code is the base of maintaining justice in our country; our informed scholars have derived these provisions from verses of holy Qur’an the word of Allah all glorification to him, the tradition of Mohammad the messenger of Allah all glorification to him, and (Opinion of Islamic followers and Ulema ) Ejamaye Umat Islami, corrective deduction, carefulness in mistake considering the needs of the society.

H.E added: “Joining of Afghanistan to International conventions such as organized crimes human rights, Anti-corruption, Child rights conventions, human trafficking protocol, immigrants trafficking, International Criminal tribunal charter and conventions enacted in criminal, civil and commercial areas at international level have been the caused to bring amendments of Afghan penal code.

H.E added that this project is one of the biggest needs of the Afghan government and completing this task is vital.

Moreover, he said that reform and revision of the penal code took several years as it was a fanatically massive document while the works still continues to complete the task.

H.E emphasized that the purpose of revising the penal code was to highlight major changes experience during the practice of justice activities.

In addition, Mr. Rasooli  Head of the of Afghan penal code reform and revision group provided information about the needs to reform the code as well as the activities and achievements of this group.

Furthermore, Professor Mohammad Ashraf   Rasooli handed over the first part of penal code to His Excellency the Minister of Justice.

At the end, H.E granted letters of appreciation to the Group members expressing hope that the assigned committee completes the scrutinizing work of the second part of it.

The penal code reform group is comprised of representatives of Supreme Court, Attorney General Office, Ministry of Interior Affairs, Ministry of Women Affairs, General Directorate of National Security, In dependent  Commission  of Human  Rights, UNODC, UNAMA, JSSP, EUPOL, experts of  friend nation  particularly the  USA, Britain, France and Italy. This group led by Professor Ashraf Rasooli senior legislative advisor to the Ministry of Justice has carried on the work of this project.

The Afghan Penal Code project was established based on decree No 1439 dated 29 May 2010 of previous government and was inaugurated at 2 May 2012 while the reform and revision group started work immediately.