Taliban Holds Another Public Execution As Thousands Present, Third Killing In 5 Days

The execution took place in heavy snowfall in Shibirghan city, which is the capital of Jawzjan province in the northern part of the country.

File photo of a Taliban carrying a gun.

The Taliban held a public execution on Monday of a man convicted of murder in northern Afghanistan, in the second such incident reported within the past five days.

According to a report in the Associated Press, the execution took place in heavy snowfall in Shibirghan city, which is the capital of Jawzjan province in the northern part of the country.

As per an eyewitness, the brother of the murdered man shot the convict five times with a rifle as thousands watched at a sports stadium.

It was also the fifth public execution since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 after toppling the Ashraf Ghani government and exiting the US forces from the country.

Last week, the Taliban publicly executed two men convicted of murder in a football stadium in the eastern part of the country.

The two murder convicts were executed by shooting to the back in Ghazni city after a Supreme Court read aloud a death warrant signed by Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

The two people were identified as Syed Jamal from central Wardak province and Gul Khan from Ghazni, both guilty of knife murders in September 2017 and January 2022 respectively.  

The execution was attended by thousands who gathered in the stadium in the Ali Lala area of the city of Ghazni to witness the capital punishment. 

The Taliban, which promised a more moderate rule after coming to a second term in power, began carrying out severe punishments in public executions, floggings and stonings shortly after coming to power in 2021. 

The punishments meted out by the Taliban are similar to those during their previous rule of Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

The United Nations has strongly criticized the Taliban government for carrying out public executions, lashings and stonings and urged them to halt such practices.