Abdul Jabar Sabet (1945 – 26 January 2023) was an Afghan politician. In May 2006

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

appointed him

Attorney General of Afghanistan Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gov ...

Life and career

Sabet was an ethnic

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

. He was a long time aide to former Afghan Prime Minister

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ( ps, ګلب الدين حكمتيار; born 1 August 1949) is an Afghan politician, former mujahideen leader and drug trafficker. He is the founder and current leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin political party, so calle ...

. After leaving Afghanistan, he worked in the U.S. for

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

. After living in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Sabet returned to Afghanistan to work for a human rights organization, before being appointed special adviser at the Interior Ministry. He was promoted to Attorney General in May 2006. Sources close to the President Hamid Karzai say that Sabet was promoted with U.S. support in exchange for giving positive comments about the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. He has however been critical of the Guantanamo release policy. A series of articles on former Guantanamo captives, published by the

McClatchy News Service The McClatchy Company, commonly referred to as simply McClatchy, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law and based in Sacramento, California. It operates 29 daily newspapers in fourteen states an ...

, quoted Sabet commenting that the release of Guantanamo captives seemed to be divorced from the captives' role in the Taliban, and to be focussed largely on whether the captives complied with the camp rules. In April 2007, Sabet launched a violent raid on

Tolo TV TOLO ( fa, طلوع, , sunrise) is a commercial television station operated by MOBY Group in Afghanistan. Launched in 2004, it became one of the first commercial stations in the country and laid the foundation for an accessible media outlet by o ...

(the country's largest private TV chain) for what he thought was a "distorted" report on his comments regarding the country's judicial system. Seven journalists from the TV station were taken to his office by force without warrants and severely beaten.

Accusation of corruption and breaking the law

On 17 April 2006, Sabet launched a raid on the country's most popular TV Channel

. The raid ended with detention and questioning of Tolo TV staff and journalists for broadcasting a news clip about Sabet. The raid was fiercely protested and announced as illegal by the law-makers, the UN office UNAMA and independent journalists. Following the raid, TOLO TV launched a formal complaint against Sabet and Co. "The complaint identifies at least 11 potential breaches of the law by Mr Sabet ... nd others orthe potential crimes ...of the utmost seriousness and directly affect issue of rule of law and sustainability of democracy in Afghanistan, especially given that they may be perpetrated by a person holding the highest operational legal position in Afghanistan."" Among others Tolo TV's complaint requested the "immediate suspension of Mr Sabet and his co-workers implicated in the incident, including the Commander of District 10 Police pending the finalisation of investigations. The results of this complaint remain unknown. On 8 June 2007 Sabit reported that he was beaten in a revenge attack. Sabit said that

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Din Mohammad Jurat Din Mohammad Jurat is a politician and military general from Afghanistan. He served at several senior position in Afghanistan Government. He was a well known commanders under the role of Ahmad Shah Massoud. He also led a political movement named P ...

was behind the attack, which he characterized as a failed kidnap attempt. The ''

'' reported: Despite Sabet's claims of being a champion of the anti-corruption fight, the Head of Afghanistan's Department of Corruption and Bribery,

Izzatullah Wasifi Izzatullah (Ezatullah, Ezzatullah) Wasifi (b. ) is a politician in Afghanistan. He served as the chief of General Independent Administration of Anti Corruption since January 2007. As anti-corruption chief Wasifi leads an 84-person staff. Part ...

, accused Sabet of corruption; he specifically said "...I am aware of many cases of orruptioninvolving Attorney General

abet The ABET (incorporated as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc.) is a non-governmental organization that accredits post-secondary education programs in applied and natural sciences, computing, engineering and engineering ...

" (Izzatullah Wasifi, 14, April 2008) It is worth noting, however, that Wasifi himself has been widely accused of corruption, by both Afghans and international observers, and spent several years in a U.S. prison after a conviction on drug charges. On 8 May 2008, the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' devoted an article to Sabet's anti-corruption efforts. He told ''Toronto Star'' reporters that although he had arrested 300 Afghan officials on corruption charges in recent months he said he had been unable to keep even one of them behind bars.

Presidential ambitions

On 17 July 2008, Hamid Karzai dismissed Sabet. His dismissal was reported to be triggered by Sabet's presidential ambitions. In January 2009 an article by Ahmad Majidyar of the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right Washington, D.C.–based think tank that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare. A ...

included on a list of fifteen possible candidates in the

2009 Afghan Presidential election Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 20 August 2009. The election resulted in victory for incumbent Hamid Karzai, who won 49.67% of the vote, while his main rival Abdullah Abdullah finished second with 30.59% of the vote. The e ...

. He was one of 38 candidates in the election and preliminary results placed him 18th.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabet, Abdul Jabar 1945 births 2023 deaths Government ministers of Afghanistan Attorneys General of Afghanistan Pashtun people