Taliban carry out the first public execution since taking over Afghanistan : NPR

ISLAMABAD — The Taliban authorities on Wednesday executed an Afghan convicted of killing one other man, the first public execution since the former insurgents took over Afghanistan final yr, a spokesman mentioned.

The announcement underscored the intentions by Afghanistan’s new rulers to proceed hard-line insurance policies applied since they took over the nation in August 2021 and to stay to their interpretation of Islamic legislation, or Sharia.

The execution, carried out with an assault rifle by the sufferer’s father, passed off in western Farah province earlier than tons of of spectators and lots of prime Taliban officers, in line with Zabihullah Mujahid, the prime Taliban authorities spokesman. Some officers got here from the capital Kabul.

The choice to carry out the punishment was “made very fastidiously,” Mujahid mentioned, following approval by three of the nation’s highest courts and the Taliban supreme chief, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.

The executed man, recognized as Tajmir from Herat province, was convicted of killing one other man 5 years in the past and stealing his bike and cell phone. The sufferer was recognized as Mustafa from neighboring Farah province. Many Afghan males use just one title.

Taliban safety forces had arrested Tajmir after the sufferer’s household accused him of the crime, mentioned a press release from Mujahid, the spokesman. The assertion didn’t say when the arrest passed off however mentioned Tajmir had purportedly confessed to the killing. Mujahid added that Tajmir was shot thrice by the sufferer’s father Wednesday with an assault rifle.

During the earlier Taliban rule of the nation in the late Nineties, the group carried out public executions, floggings and stoning of these convicted of crimes in Taliban courts.

After they overran Afghanistan in 2021, in the last weeks of the U.S. and NATO forces’ pullout from the nation after 20 years of warfare, the Taliban had initially promised to permit for ladies’s and minority rights.

Instead, they’ve restricted rights and freedoms, together with imposing a ban on woman’s training past the sixth grade. They have additionally carried out public lashings throughout completely different provinces, punishing a number of women and men accused of theft, adultery or operating away from residence.

The former insurgents have struggled of their transition from warfare to governing amid an financial downturn and the worldwide group’s withholding of official recognition.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about the public execution, reiterating the U.N. place that “the dying penalty can’t be reconciled with full respect for the proper to life,” U.N. affiliate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay mentioned.