Taliban leaders, including the group’s deputy chief minister, gathered to watch the public Qisas, or retributive execution under Sharia law, of a man accused of murder in western Farah province in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
According to a Taliban media office statement, the executed man was Tajmir son of Ghulam from Jalwarja village in the Injil district of western Herat province. He was accused of killing another man, Mustafa from Farah province, the statement said.
The Taliban stated that Tajmir, the accused, was shot dead by the victim’s father.
Taliban deputy chief minister Mullah Baradar, Taliban supreme court chief Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Taliban interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban minister of vice and virtue Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Taliban justice minister Mawlawi Abdul Hakim Sharaee, and Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid were among key officials of the group who watched the execution.
According to the statement, Tajmir had “brutally” murdered the victim for his motorcycle and mobile phone.
This was the first public execution since the Taliban takeover.
Mohammad Hashim, a Farah resident who witnessed the execution, said: “Today, all government offices closed in Farah province. Mullah Baradar and Zabihullah Mujahid were among the Taliban cabinet delegation that visited Farah to participate in a Kangaroo court.
“After the arrival of the delegation, a 30-year-old man was shot dead by the victim’s father in the presence of thousands of people in the Farah sports stadium,” he added.
The source added that the accused was convicted of killing a man “six years ago and his [victims] family took the matter to the Taliban for trial.”
Meanwhile, another source told Amu TV on condition of anonymity that another three people were also executed in Farah in the presence of Mullah Baradar. In addition a woman is expected to be stoned to death and four men will each have a hand amputated on Thursday in the province, the source said.
This comes after the Taliban’s supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ordered the implementation of Hudud, which is the amputation of hands and feet, public lashings, and Qisas, which is a similar punishment for an offender as he has caused to the victim.
The Taliban publicly flogged 19 men and women in Takhar province just days after the announcement and nine men and four women were also whipped on November 23 in Puli Alam stadium in Logar province.
The United Nations, meanwhile, called the Taliban’s flogging of Afghan citizens a “cruel” act. In a press conference Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for the UN, stated: “We are against any kind of cruel punishments.”
