This is the second time the Taliban authorities have carried out a public execution since seizing power in Afghanistan in August 2021. On Tuesday, June 20, a man convicted of murder was shot to death inside a mosque in Sultan Ghazi Baba, in central Laghman province, “so that he suffers and [his death] may serve as a lesson to others,” provincial officials wrote in a statement.
The statement names the man executed on Tuesday as “Ajmal, son of Naseem” and says he had been convicted of murdering five people.
An official from the provincial department of communication and culture said that around 2,000 people attended the execution – including relatives of his victims – and that it was carried out in accordance with Sharia law. Islamic. “I saw the criminal being executed for qisas, after the victims’ family did not forgive him,” said a witness to the execution, who requested anonymity. “He was shot six times, if I counted correctly. I couldn’t see if he was dead or not, but he was then transported by an ambulance,” he added.
The sentence was carried out by an executioner who shot the condemned man with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and not by a relative of the victims as permitted by the “qisas”, according to a provincial official.
In Ajmal’s case, all avenues of appeal had been exhausted and the final decision to enforce the sentence was taken by the Paramount Chief himself, the Supreme Court said in a statement. Hibatullah Akhundzada has “extraordinarily documented” on this file, which “was discussed with scholars at a large gathering”, explained the body. “At the end, the ‘qisas’ order for the murderer was approved and the order was given to carry it out,” she added.
Upon their return to power, the Taliban had promised to be more flexible in the application of sharia, but they have largely returned to the austere interpretation of Islam that marked their first spell in power. Because from 1996 to 2001, public executions were common. Convicts were most often shot or stoned to death, depending on the crimes charged.
In November, the country’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, ordered judges to apply all aspects of Sharia law, including public executions for murder under the principle of “qisas” or lex talionis, but also corporal punishment (stoning, flogging, amputation of limbs).
“For such crimes, it is good that people can see and keep fear in them when committing such inhumane acts,” said the same witness. “There was a lot of fear, of emotions. We are not used to such things. »
