The Taliban have carried out their second public execution since the 2021 takeover of Afghanistan, officials said as quoted by AFP. A convicted murderer was shot dead on the premises of a mosque in Afghanistan, the news agency quoted officials as saying.
“He was executed in public in the town of Sultan Ghazi Baba, centre of Laghman province so that he could suffer and become a lesson for others,” said a statement from provincial information officers.
The group named the murderer as “Ajmal, son of Naseem”, adding he had killed five people, AFP reported. According to the report, 2,000 people watched the execution, including relatives of Ajmal’s victims, and the sentence and execution were carried out in accordance with Sharia law.
The Taliban carried out their first public execution since the takeover in December 2022 when a man convicted of murder was shot by the victim's father at a crowded sports stadium in southwestern Farah province, BBC reported.
A Taliban spokesperson had said the father of the victim shot the man three times during the execution and several leaders of the group attended the execution. This shooting was also in accordance with the Sharia law and came weeks after judges were instructed to fully enforce Sharia law.
The executed man named Tajmir, a son of Ghulam Sarwar and a resident of Herat province had stabbed a man named Mustafa about five years ago, according to a statement by the Taliban, and was convicted by three Taliban courts and his sentence was approved by Mullah Akhundzada. Before the execution, a public notice was issued asking citizens to be present at the venue - a sports field.
The victim's mother told BBC that the Taliban had urged her to forgive the murderer but she insisted on execution.
"Taliban came to me and begged me to forgive this infidel. They insisted that I forgive this man for the 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 told BBC.
The UN condemned the act and expressed deep concern.
Public executions were common during the Taliban rule in Afghanistan from 1996-2001 during which the group was condemned for regularly carrying out punishments in public, including executions at the national stadium in Kabul.
However, they had vowed to not repeat such extreme measures that included curtailing the rights of women in their second stint. But as their rule stabilised, the old extreme measures started to see a return and women were badly impacted. The Taliban have banned women from attending school and offices and imposed several regressive rules on their public life.