Karzai Removes Three IEC Commissioners

President Karzai has replaced three members of the election panel after dismissing four commissioners of the country's human rights organisation, an IEC official said on Friday.

Those dismissed include the deputy chief of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), Ayub Asil and two other commissioners Sulaiman Hamed and Mastura Stanikzai, the official said on the condition of anonymity.

The new commissioners are Hashim Folad, Dastgir Azad and Reda Azimi.

It comes as President Hamid Karzai on Thursday sacked Nader Naderi, a commissioner of Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, along with some other members of the commission.

An official on condition of anonymity said that Nader Naderi, Human Rights Commissioner, Fahim Hakim, Mawlawi Ghulam Mohammad Gharib and two other members of the commission were sacked by the president over publishing a report about violation of human rights by some high ranking government officials and disagreements between the commission and the government and Administrative Reforms and Civil Services Commission as well as acting ministers' activities.

Afghan experts described the action against the human rights activists as crackdown on democracy in the country.