GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) voiced concern over the Taliban’s practice of public executions and urged the regime to immediately cease the use of the death penalty.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, February 28, the UN office called on the Taliban to ensure full respect for due process and fair trial rights, particularly emphasizing access to legal representation for individuals facing criminal charges.
The OHCHR says that the Taliban also continues to implement judicial corporal punishment in public, emphasizing that it also constitutes a form of cruel and inhuman treatment prohibited under international human rights law.
Shortly after coming to power, the Taliban, despite initial promises of a more moderate rule, began carrying out severe punishments in public. These included executions, floggings, and stoning, similar to those during their previous rule of Afghanistan in the late 1990s.
According to the OHCHR statement, since retaking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has publicly executed at least five individuals in the country, all with approval from the regime’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
The most recent incidents took place earlier this week, as Taliban authorities in northern Jowzjan province publicly executed a man accused of murder.
Last week on Thursday, the Taliban authorities in southeastern Ghazni province carried out a double public execution of two men at a football stadium, accusing them of murder in separate cases.
The Taliban’s supreme court said that the death sentences were executed with approval from three of the regime’s highest courts and its supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
The UN and global human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have previously criticized the Taliban for carrying out corporal punishment, denouncing such practices as contrary to international law. They have consistently urged the regime to halt such actions.
“We oppose all executions as a violation of the right to life,” Amnesty International said in a statement in response to the Taliban’s recent execution in Ghazni province. It added that the protection of the right to a fair trial “remains seriously concerning” under the Taliban rule.
Livia Saccardi, Amnesty International’s interim deputy regional director for South Asia, stated, “It’s high time that the international community and the U.N. up the pressure on the blatant human rights violations by the Taliban and help ensure that international safeguards are respected in Afghanistan.”
The Taliban, however, has thus far rejected the criticism of their policies, claiming that their criminal justice system is based on Islamic law and guidelines.
“Public executions are a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” the UN Human Rights Office said.
“Such executions are also arbitrary in nature and contrary to the right to life protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Afghanistan is a state party. They must cease immediately,” it added.
