Afghanistan returns to the Dark Ages as the Taliban orders executions under collapsing walls

The data indicate a sharp increase in the use of corporal punishment, with Kabul recording the highest number of cases. According to figures published by the Taliban, 1,030 people were flogged last year for offenses such as stealing and acts contrary to Islamic law. This figure is almost double that of previous years and represents a continued increase in the use of corporal punishment since the regime regained power in 2021.

In one case in Khost district, a man convicted of murder was executed in front of tens of thousands of spectators, with his executioner believed to be a 13-year-old boy.

The man was shot dead in a sports stadium in eastern Afghanistan in front of a crowd of about 80,000 people. The UN condemned the killing as “inhumane and cruel”.

The convicted killer, named Mangal, and two others had been found guilty of murdering thirteen members of the teenager’s family, including several children and women.

“Today a murderer was sentenced to retaliatory punishment (Qisas) at the sports stadium in Khost province,” said a statement from the Supreme Court of Afghanistan on X.

“The victim’s family was offered the option of forgiveness and retaliation, but after they refused and insisted on Qisas, the order was issued for the execution of Qisas’s divine pronouncement.

“At the end of the meeting, prayers were offered for strengthening national security, for better access of the people to their legitimate rights and for the proper implementation of Islamic Sharia law across the country.”

The Taliban are said to have banned spectators from bringing mobile phones into the stadium in an attempt to prevent the execution from being filmed.

The execution was the 11th carried out under the Taliban’s interpretation of sharia law, a system in which offenses such as murder, adultery and theft carry penalties including death, amputation or public flogging.

Data over the past four years shows that the Taliban have relied heavily on the death penalty, issuing at least 178 execution orders under the doctrine of qisas.

The same data also mentions 37 death sentences by stoning and four executions carried out by demolishing walls of condemned men.

The Taliban’s first public execution since their return to power took place in December 2022 and was carried out by the victim’s father in front of a crowded stadium in Farah province.