Last month, Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered judges to fully comply with aspects of Islamic law such as public executions, stoning, flogging and amputations.
Authorities have carried out several public vices since then, but Wednesday’s execution in Farah, the capital of the province of the same name in western Afghanistan, was the first they have announced since taking power.
According to a statement released by the Taliban, the executed man’s name was Tajmir and he lived in the province of Herat.
“The High Court has been instructed to apply this qisas order during a public meeting of residents,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, citing Islamic law.
Qisas is an Islamic principle similar to the law of retribution, which is to inflict damage on the offender equal to the damage he caused.
It is unclear how the execution took place. The Taliban said in a statement that the man had admitted his guilt.
During their first stay in Afghanistan (1996-2001), the Taliban regularly used public corporal punishment, including flogging and executions at the Kabul National Stadium.
Once back in power, the Islamic fundamentalists vowed that such measures would no longer be enforced, although they imposed increasingly severe restrictions, especially on women, who were gradually driven out of public life.
Currently, in Afghanistan, women cannot travel unless accompanied by a male family member and must wear a full veil, preferably a veil, in public.
The Taliban also closed girls’ primary schools in most provinces.
Mujahid said Wednesday’s case went through a number of courts before it reached the Supreme Court.
“The case was considered very carefully,” the statement said. “In the end, it was ordered to apply Sharia law of retribution against the killer.”
Akhundzada rules by decree in Kandahar, the city where the movement originated. The statement specified that a dozen court officials and representatives of the Taliban were present at the execution.
