The Afghan government on Thursday released 75 Hizb-e-Islami party members that had been imprisoned in Pul-e-Charkhi prison in east of Kabul city, officials confirmed.
 
The prisoners were released in accordance with the peace agreement between government and Hizb-e-Islami last year.
 
The process of releasing the prisoners has been delayed for months after human rights organizations criticized government for agreeing to the move stating that the political prisoners had been involved in insurgency incidents that killed civilians.
 
Hizb-e-Islami claims that there are 3,000 of its members being held in Afghan prisons.
 
Hizb-e-Islami says the prisoners released had been jailed for political reasons but human rights organizations accuse them of having been involved in insurgent attacks where ‘many’ civilians lost their lives.
 
The prisoners were released based on a peace agreement signed between President Ashraf Ghani and Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in September 2016. Hekmatyar returned to the country after 20 years.
 
According to Article 11 of the peace agreement, after assessment of their documents all prisoners of Hizb-e-Islami who are accused of political and security crimes and are exempted from ‘the right of people’ – a legal term which is used for those who don’t carry any complaint from members of the public in a court.
 
It was the third batch of Hizb-e-Islami prisoners who were released on Thursday. The first batch of prisoners were released last year in May which included 55 people. 
 
Later in the year the second group of them were released which included 13 people. 
 
President Ashraf Ghani and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar signed the peace agreement at a ceremony on September 2016.
 
A few weeks after signing the agreement, Hekmatyar returned to Kabul after self-imposed exile.