 "Afghans walk towards a football stadium ahead of the public execution of a man, by the Taliban at Gardez in Paktia province on November 13, 2024. AFP")
The Taliban administration in Afghanistan on Wednesday publically executed a convicted murderer, making it the sixth such incident since it came to power in 2021.
The man was killed at a sports stadium by one of his victim’s family members who shot three bullets into his chest. The execution was spectacled by thousands of onlookers in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, an AFP journalist noted.
The evening before the execution the governor’s office called on officials and residents to “attend this event” on social media.
“A murderer was sentenced to retaliation punishment,” said a statement from Afghanistan’s supreme court which named the condemned as Mohammad Ayaz Asad.
The order of the murderer’s public execution was signed by the Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, the court that convicted the man said in a statement.
Who was the murderer?
The convict had been in detention since before the Taliban came to power for killing another man, Habibullah Saif-ul-Qatal, while the case was “examined very precisely and repeatedly” by three military courts, the statement said.
The victim’s family was allowed to stay at the execution, but they refused, the statement added.
Among the crowd at the execution were high-level officials, including Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.
UN, rights group condemn act
The Taliban carried out its sixth public execution despite repeated calls from the United Nations and rights groups like Amnesty International to abolish the practice.
“Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, five people have been publicly executed further to decisions of the de facto judicial system and approved by the Taliban leader. Public executions are a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” UN said earlier this year.
It added, “Such executions are also arbitrary in nature and contrary to the right to life protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Afghanistan is a State party. They must cease immediately.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMeanwhile, Amnesty International’s interim Deputy Regional Director for South Asia said, “We oppose all executions as a violation of the right to life. The Taliban has been repeatedly carrying them out publicly which is a gross affront to human dignity as well as a violation of international laws and standards and cannot be tolerated.
“Amnesty International reiterates that the Taliban de-facto authorities must immediately halt all executions and abolish the death penalty and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishments,” she added.
With inputs from AFP