In the first officially confirmed public execution since the Taliban took control of the nation last year, a man accused of murder in western Afghanistan was put to death today, according to a Taliban spokesperson. Senior Taliban officials were present for the man’s execution in western Farah province, where he was found guilty of fatally stabbing another man in 2017.
According to Mujahid, the issue was looked at by three tribunals and approved by the group’s top spiritual leader, who is based in southern Kandahar Province. He made no mention of the man’s method of death. More than a dozen senior Taliban officials, including the country’s chief justice, acting foreign minister, and acting education minister, as well as acting interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani and acting deputy prime minister Abdul Ghani Baradar, reportedly attended the execution.
It follows the country’s Supreme Court’s announcement that public beatings of men and women convicted of crimes including robbery and adultery had occurred in various regions recently, possibly a return to behaviours typical during its strict reign in the 1990s. Last month, a representative of the U.N. human rights office urged the Taliban government to stop publicly beating Afghan citizens immediately.
According to a court statement, the Taliban’s highest spiritual leader told judges in November that they should administer punishments in accordance with sharia law. Under the Taliban’s previous rule from 1996 to 2001, there were public beatings and executions by stoning. Though the death penalty remained legal in Afghanistan, such punishments later became uncommon and were denounced by the subsequent Afghan governments that were supported by foreign powers.
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