Taliban authorities publicly executed a convicted murderer by gunfire in a sports stadium on Monday, officials said, the third death penalty carried out in Afghanistan in a matter of days.
The man — found guilty of a January 2022 knife murder — was executed in northern Sheberghan city on a death warrant signed by Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada, a Supreme Court statement said.
The statement identified the condemned man as Nazar Muhammad and said his case “was examined very thoroughly and repeatedly”.
He was shot five times in front of the family of his victim — including women and children — as well as thousands of onlookers in the stadium, a local provincial official told AFP.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, a handful of executions have been conducted in accordance with their government’s austere vision of Islam.
Akhundzada ordered judges in 2022 to fully implement all aspects of Islamic law — including “eye for an eye” punishments known as “qisas”.
Under the Taliban government’s interpretation of Islamic law, the provisions allow for the death penalty in retribution for the crime of murder.
Last week two other men were executed by multiple gunshots to the back in eastern Ghazni city on death warrants also signed by Akhundzada.
