KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) denounced the Taliban’s public execution of a man in eastern Afghanistan and called for an immediate end to such practices.
In a statement released on Thursday, November 14, UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence stated that the public execution constitutes a form of “cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment” that violates international law.
“We are disturbed by the public execution of a man at a sports stadium in the Afghan city of Gardez on Wednesday, the sixth such execution since the Taliban takeover in 2021,” part of the OHCHR statement reads.
“We oppose the death penalty, as a matter of policy, in all circumstances. It is incompatible with the fundamental right to life and raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people,” it added.
Since returning to power, the Taliban authorities have carried out six public executions for murder, including the execution of a man named Mohammad Ayaz in the eastern Paktia province on Wednesday.
The man was reportedly shot three times by a family member of the murdered person in a sports stadium, in the presence of Taliban ministers, other senior authorities, and a crowd of local people.
The UN Human Rights Office further emphasizes that public executions have little to no effect in deterring crime and urges the Taliban to swiftly impose a complete ban on the use of the death penalty.
Volker Türk, UN Human Rights Chief, was quoted in the statement expressing concern over the Taliban’s use of corporal punishment in public, emphasizing that it is a clear violation of international human rights law.
“Corporal punishment is a clear violation of the prohibition against torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment under international human rights law,” Türk said.
Despite widespread outcry and condemnation from the UN and human rights groups, the Taliban remain determined to carry out public flogging, which has become a routine practice in recent weeks.
Over the past three years, the Taliban have publicly flogged hundreds of people, including women and LGBT+ individuals, on various charges throughout Afghanistan.
According to a recent report by the UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), at least 111 people, including 15 women and one girl, were flogged across Afghanistan between July and September of this year.
