The Taliban has carried out three public executions in just five days with impunity. The government has again started amputating, lashing, and executing people publicly for various crimes.
In a recent incident reported from the city of Shibirghan, the Taliban on February 26 held a public execution for a man convicted of murder.
The executed man, identified as Nazar Mohammad, was found guilty of murdering Khal Mohammad from Faryab. He was found guilty by three of the country's highest courts and the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.
The brother of the murdered man was allowed to shoot the convict with a rifle. He shot at the man five times, per a report by AP.
Last week, the Taliban executed two men convicted of stabbing. The executions were carried out at a stadium in the Ali Lala area of Ghazni in the presence of thousands of spectators.
The two men, identified as Syed Jamal from central Wardak province and Gul Khan from Ghazni, were convicted of stabbing someone to death. They were shot to death by the relatives of the victim.
The execution was ordered by three lower courts and supreme leader Akhundzada, according to a statement by the Department of Culture and Information of Ghazni Province. However, no additional information was provided by the department.
The latest public execution is the fifth on record since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021. In 2022, a man was executed after being found guilty of five murders.
During their rule in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, the group would often execute, shoot, amputate, and flog people publicly for crimes of murder, robbery, and prostitution. Sometimes the bodies of people would be put on display. The Kandahar stadium has witnessed many of these heinous punishments.
The first person whose hand was amputated by the Taliban in 1995 was a 14-year-old boy, and his crime was stealing money.
Despite promising a softer approach under its rule this time, the Taliban government has been treating Afghan citizens with immense cruelty. Its actions are testimony to the fact that they want to take the country back to the '90s.
Last year, the Taliban reportedly cut off the hands of four men convicted of theft and flogged nine men publicly for various crimes at a sports stadium.
Human rights groups and the United Nations have strongly condemned the Taliban's actions. "The public nature of execution is extremely heinous, and we continue to stand against the use of the death penalty," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
