Taliban conducts first public execution since return to power

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07th Dec, 2022. 09:15 pm
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Taliban believed to have carried out first public execution since taking control of Afghanistan.
Man was hung in the south-western province of Farah after confessing to murder.
The Taliban have executed Mustafa Tajmir, son of Ghulam Sarwar, at the national stadium in Kabul.

Since retaking control in Afghanistan last year, the Taliban are believed to have carried out their first public execution.

A spokesperson for the Taliban government claimed that a man was executed at a packed sports stadium in the south-western province of Farah after confessing to murder.

The majority of their government’s top ministers were among the dozens of leaders present during the hanging.

It happens a few weeks after judges received orders to completely implement Sharia law.

The edict, which was issued last month by Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, instructed judges to enforce penalties that might include public executions, public amputations, and stoning.

However, the Taliban hasn’t formally established the specific crimes and associated penalties.

Although there have been a number of recent public floggings, including one last month in front of a packed football stadium in Logar Province, this is the first time the Taliban have openly admitted to carrying out an execution.

The execution was witnessed by multiple Supreme Court justices, military men, and senior ministers, including the justice, foreign, and interior ministers, according to their spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid.

Mohammad Khaled Hanafi, the Taliban’s minister for vice and virtue, was also present. He was in charge of enforcing the Taliban’s stringent interpretation of Islamic law. Hasan Akhund, the prime minister, did not go, according to the statement.

The Taliban claimed that Tajmir, a Herat provincial resident and son of Ghulam Sarwar, had stabbed Mustafa some five years prior to his execution.

After being found guilty by three Taliban tribunals, Mullah Akhundzada authorized his sentence.

Before the execution, a public notice was issued publicizing the event and “asking all citizens to join us in the sport field”.

During their rule from 1996-2001, the Taliban were condemned for regularly carrying out punishments in public, including executions at the national stadium in Kabul.

The Taliban vowed that they would not repeat the brutal repression of women. Since they seized power, women’s freedoms have been severely curbed and a number of women have been beaten for demanding rights.

At present, no country has recognized their new government and the World Bank has withheld around $600m (£458m), after the Taliban banned girls from returning to secondary schools.

The US has also frozen billions of dollars held by Afghanistan’s central bank in accounts around the world.

The murdered man’s mother told Media that Taliban leaders had pleaded with her to forgive the man, but she had insisted upon his execution.

“Taliban came to me and begged me to forgive this infidel,” she said. “They insist me to forgive this man in sake of God, but I told them that this man must be executed and must be buried the same as he did to my son.”

“This could be a lesson to other people,” she added. “If you do not execute him he will commit other crimes in the future.”

Taliban conducts first public execution since return to power

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