The Taliban publicly executed the murderer of a couple – He was killed by a relative of the victims
An Afghan man who murdered a man and his pregnant wife was executed by a relative of the victims, in accordance with the Taliban’s system of retribution in Afghanistan.
The man was executed in front of a crowd at a sports stadium in Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Badghis province, the Supreme Court said in a statement.
The 11th public execution
It was the 11th public execution since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, according to an AFP count.
The man was shot three times by a relative of the victims before thousands of spectators, witnesses told news agencies.
He had been “sentenced to retribution” after shooting a couple dead.
“The murderer killed two people — a man and his wife, who was about eight months pregnant,” said Matiullah Mutaki, head of intelligence for Badghis province.
The execution followed review by three courts and final approval by the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, he said.
“The families of the victims were offered the option of forgiveness, but they refused,” the Supreme Court’s statement said.
“Many people came to watch the execution, including the victims’ families, who exercised their right under Islamic law,” said 36-year-old Juma Khan, a witness to the event.
Official announcements inviting Afghans to attend the execution were widely circulated on Wednesday.
Executions were common under the first Taliban regime
Public executions were frequent during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, most of them held in sports stadiums.
The previous execution took place in April, when four men were put to death publicly in three different provinces on the same day, in front of thousands of spectators, including Taliban officials.
The Taliban authorities continue to use corporal punishment — mainly flogging — for crimes such as theft, adultery, and alcohol consumption.
However, all execution orders are signed by the Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader, Akhundzada, who lives in the movement’s heartland of Kandahar.
Law and order are central to the Taliban’s hard-line ideology, which emerged from the chaos of civil war after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989.
Condemnation from the United Nations
The United Nations and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have condemned the Taliban government’s use of corporal punishment and the death penalty.
The UN Human Rights Office said after the execution:
“We condemn the public execution of a man in Badghis stadium after he was sentenced to death for murder.
Public executions violate international law, and the death penalty itself is incompatible with the fundamental right to life.
Local authorities are urged to take specific steps toward the immediate abolition of the death penalty — starting with the imposition of an immediate moratorium on executions.”
Meanwhile, Amnesty International stated that Afghanistan was among the countries where death sentences were carried out following trials that “did not meet international standards of fair trial,” according to its annual report published in April.
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