The Taliban has continued public executions despite international calls to end the activity.
The latest execution occurred on Monday when a man convicted of murder was shot five times with a rifle in a stadium, according to Just the News, which noted that the execution was the “third death sentence to be carried out over the past five days, and the fifth public execution since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021.”
“On Thursday, two men who were convicted of stabbing people to death were executed by gunshot in a stadium by relatives of the victims,” the outlet reported.
Amnesty International’s interim Deputy Regional Director for South Asia Livia Saccardi issued a statement on the executions, saying, “We oppose all executions as a violation of the right to life. The Taliban has been repeatedly carrying them out publicly which is a gross affront to human dignity as well as a violation of international laws and standards and cannot be tolerated.”
“Amnesty International reiterates that the Taliban de-facto authorities must immediately halt all executions and abolish the death penalty and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishments. Carrying out executions in public adds to the inherent cruelty of the death penalty and can only have a dehumanizing effect on the victim and a brutalizing effect on those who witness the executions. Meanwhile, the protection of the right to a fair trial under the Taliban’s de facto authority remains seriously concerning.”
“It’s high time that the international community and the UN up the pressure on the blatant human rights violations by the Taliban and help ensure that international safeguards are respected in Afghanistan,” Saccardi continued.
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the “public nature of execution is extremely heinous, and we continue to stand against the use of the death penalty.”
According to Voice of America, the Taliban has flogged several hundred other individuals in sports stadiums since 2021.
