Taliban authorities in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday executed a convicted murderer by gunfire in a sports stadium, the sixth public execution since their return to power.
The convicted man was shot three times in the chest by a relative of the victim in front of thousands of spectators in Gardez, capital of Paktia province.
The night before the execution, the governor’s office asked officials and residents to “attend this event” on social media.
“A murderer was sentenced to retaliation,” said a statement from Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, which named the convicted man as Mohammad Ayaz Asad.
The execution order was signed by Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, the court stated.
Afghans walk towards a football stadium before the public execution of a man by the Taliban in Gardez, Paktia province, on November 13, 2024.
Afghans gather at a football stadium before the public execution of a man by the Taliban in Gardez, Paktia province, on November 13, 2024.
Afghans walk towards a football stadium before the public execution of a man by the Taliban in Gardez, Paktia province, on November 13, 2024.
The convict had been detained since before the Taliban came to power for killing another man, Habibullah Saif-ul-Qatal, while the case was “very precisely and repeatedly examined” by three military courts, the statement said.
The victim’s family had the opportunity to stay the execution, but they refused, the statement added.
Among the crowd that attended the execution were high-level officials, including Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first government, from 1996 to 2001, but only a few have been carried out since their return to power in August 2021.
In 2022, Akhundzada ordered judges to fully implement all aspects of the Taliban government’s interpretation of Islamic law, including ‘eye for an eye’ punishments known as ‘qisas’, which allow the death penalty in retaliation. for the crime of murder.
In February, three public executions were carried out in one week.
The night before the execution, the governor’s office called on officials and residents to “attend this event” on social media.
Two men were executed by multiple shots in the back in front of a large crowd in the eastern city of Ghazni, followed days later by a similar public execution in the northern province of Jowzjan.
Corporal punishment – mainly whipping – has been common under Taliban authorities and has been used for crimes such as theft, adultery and alcohol consumption.
Law and order are central to the harsh ideology of the Taliban, which emerged from the chaos of a civil war after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989.
One of the most infamous images from that era showed the 1999 execution of a woman wearing a full-coverage burqa in a stadium in Kabul. She had been accused of killing her husband.
The United Nations and human rights groups such as Amnesty International have condemned the Taliban government’s use of corporal punishment and the death penalty.
According to Amnesty, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United States were respectively ranked as the world’s most prolific practitioners of the death penalty in 2022.