A Taliban spokesman said on Tuesday that around 80,000 people gathered at a stadium in the eastern province of Khost to witness the public execution of a man convicted of killing 13 members of a family, an event that drew renewed condemnation from human rights organisations.
Mostaghfar Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, posted an image on X saying the execution was carried out against a man identified as Mangal, who Taliban officials say murdered the family in the districts of Ali Shir and Terezio about 10 months ago.
Local sources told Amu the execution was performed by a 13-year-old boy whose family members were among the victims. They said Taliban officials first asked the boy whether he wished to pardon the condemned man; when he refused, he fired the shot that killed him.
The Taliban supreme court said the man was accused of killing a Khost resident named Abdul Rahman.
The court said the case had been reviewed by courts of first instance, appeal and final review before the order was approved by their leader. It said the convicted man was originally from Sanjak village in Paktia’s Syed Karam district but had been living in Khost.
Human rights groups have long criticised the Taliban justice system for a lack of transparency and due process. Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, called the execution “inhuman, cruel and contrary to international law” and urged the Taliban to halt public executions and retribution killings.
According to data compiled from Taliban supreme court statements, this is the eleventh judicial execution carried out by the group in more than four years.
