KABUL —
An Afghan man convicted of murder was executed in public Wednesday, the Taliban
said, the first confirmation of such a sentence since the hardline Islamists
returned to power.اضافة اعلان
Last month
Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges to fully enforce
aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stonings and floggings,
and the amputation of limbs from thieves.
They have carried
out several public floggings since then, but Wednesday’s execution in Farah —
capital of the western province of the same name — is the first the Taliban
have acknowledged.
“The supreme
court was instructed to implement this order of qisas in a public gathering of
compatriots,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement,
referring to the “eye for an eye” justice in Islamic law.
In a later tweet,
Mujahid said the victim’s father had carried out the sentence, shooting the
condemned man three times with a Kalashnikov.
The statement
named the executed man as Tajmir, son of Ghulam Sarwar, and said he was a
resident of Anjil district in Herat province.
It said Tajmir
had murdered a man and stolen his motorcycle and cell phone.
“Later, this
person was recognized by the heirs of the deceased,” it said, adding he had
admitted his guilt.
The Taliban
regularly carried out punishments in public during their first rule that ended
in late 2001, including floggings and executions at the national stadium in
Kabul which Afghans were encouraged to attend.
The hardline
Islamists had promised a softer rule this time round, but have introduced
increasingly severe restrictions on the lives of Afghans.
Women especially
have been incrementally squeezed out of public life since the Taliban’s return.
Those in
government roles have lost their jobs — or are being paid a pittance to stay at
home — while women are also barred from travelling without a male relative, and
must cover up with a burqa or hijab when out of the home.
Schools for
teenage girls have also been shuttered across most of the country for over a
year.
Mujahid said the
case for Wednesday’s execution had been thoroughly examined by a series of
courts before the supreme leader gave the order.
“This matter was
examined very precisely,” he said in the statement. “In the end, they gave an
order to apply Sharia ... to the murderer.”
Akhundzada, who
has not been filmed or photographed in public since the Taliban returned to
power in August 2021, rules by decree from Kandahar, the movement’s birthplace
and spiritual heartland.
The statement
included the names of dozens of court officials as well as other Taliban
representatives as being present for the execution.
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