The Taliban executed four men in public on Friday, the largest number in one day since the group took back power in Afghanistan in 2021. The executions happened across three provinces and were confirmed by Afghanistan’s Supreme Court.
Two of the men were put to death in Qala-i-Naw, Badghis provincial capital. They were, according to eyewitnesses, fired upon several times by the kin of the victims before a group of onlookers. “They were made to sit facing the other way and then being fired upon by relatives,” the 48-year-old Mohammad Iqbal Rahimyar stated, who viewed the incident.
The Supreme Court noted that the killings had undergone meticulous judicial reviews and that the men had been found guilty of murder based on the Taliban’s reading of Islamic law that permits “qisas” or retaliatory justice. The victim families had also been offered a chance to pardon the attackers but refused to do so.
A third was carried out in Zaranj, province of Nimroz, and the fourth in Farah city, as confirmed by the court. These recent actions take the number of public executions since 2021 to 10, as per AFP.
Public executions and floggings have become commonplace under the Taliban regime. These are usually announced ahead of time and held in sports stadiums an echo of the group’s initial regime between 1996 and 2001.
The global community, including Amnesty International and the United Nations, has criticized the Taliban’s imposition of the death penalty and corporal punishment on the grounds of unfair trials and human rights abuses. Amnesty denounced the executions as a “gross affront to human dignity.”
Despite criticism, Taliban officials claim these actions reflect a strict adherence to Islamic justice. The Supreme Leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, must personally approve each execution order. His 2022 directive instructs judges to fully enforce Islamic punishments.
