The execution took place in front of hundreds of spectators, including many senior Taliban officials. The Taliban in power had already carried out public flagellations for facts of flight, adultery or fugue.
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The Taliban authorities executed, on Wednesday, December 7, an Afghan found guilty of the murder of a man. This is the first public execution since the former insurgents took control of Afghanistan last year, said a spokesperson.
This announcement underlines the intention of the new Afghan leaders to continue the policies implemented since their takeover of the country in August 2021 and to stick to their interpretation of Islamic law, Sharia.
The execution took place in the western province of Farah in front of hundreds of spectators, including many senior Taliban officials, notably the capital Kabul and the province, according to Zabihullah Mujahid, the main spokesperson for the government Taliban. The decision to apply the punishment was “taken very carefully,” said Mujahid, after being approved by three of the country’s highest lessons and by the supreme chief of the Taliban, the Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.
The man executed, named Tajmir, from the province of Herat, had been sentenced for having killed another man five years ago and for having stolen his motorcycle and his mobile phone. The victim, Mustafa, was from the neighboring province of Farah. Many Afghan men use only one name. Taliban security forces arrested Tajmir after the victim’s family accused him of the crime, said a statement by government spokesperson. The press release does not specify when the arrest took place, but adds that Tajmir would have confessed the murder.
a promise of flouted softening
During the previous reign of the Taliban on the country, in the late 1990s, the group had carried out public executions, flogging and lapidations of people found guilty of crimes by the Taliban courts.
After invading Afghanistan in 2021, in the last weeks of the withdrawal of American forces and NATO from the country after twenty years of war, the Taliban had initially Reassured by promising to be more moderate and allow respect for the rights of women and minorities. But the promises lasted little and the education of girls was finally prohibited beyond the sixth year of studies, and access to the sports halls revoked. The Taliban in power had already carried out public flogging in different provinces, punishing several men and women accused of theft, adultery or fugue.