Afghanistan: Taliban publicly execute man convicted of murder

Taliban on Wednesday carried out the first public execution of a man charged with murder since the militant group took over the country last year, VOA News reported. Taliban's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid  has confirmed the public execution of a man.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that the execution took place in a sports stadium in western Farah province early morning. Mujahid said that hundreds of people witnessed the execution, including the top officials of the group, as per the VOA News report. He said that the executed person was tried in the Taliban courts and subsequent appellate tribunals.

Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that the executed person in the court had "confessed to stabbing to death" a resident of Farah and stealing his belongings, including a motorcycle, as per the news report.

Furthermore, Mujahid said that the man was found guilty and the "sentence of retribution" was declared. He stressed that execution was carried out as per the "qisas" law which stipulates that the person is punished in the same way as the victim was murdered.

"He was found guilty, and the sentence of retribution was enforced on the murderer," VOA News quoted Zabihullah Mujahid as saying.

"The killer was shot three times by the father of the deceased with an assault rifle," he added.

Taliban spokesperson emphasised that the decision to enforce the 'Sharia sentence' was "very carefully" analysed, as per the VOA News report. According to him, the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada approved the decision.

Prior to the execution, the flogging of dozens of people by Taliban authorities took place in front of hundreds of spectators in a football stadium in Kabul and several provinces of Afghanistan in the past month.

As per the news report, the victims have been accused of committing "moral crimes", including theft, adultery and running away from home. Notably, public floggings and executions took place under the Taliban rule between 1996 to 2001.

Ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, the international community has been expressing concern over the situation of people in the war-ravaged nation and calling for respecting the rights of women. Taliban has ordered women to cover their faces in public places and they have been banned from visiting public parks, gyms and baths.