KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has condemned the Taliban’s latest public execution, calling for an immediate end to the use of the death penalty, which he described as “cruel, inhuman, and degrading.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Bennett said the Taliban deliberately uses public executions and other “cruel punishments” as a tool to control the population and instill fear.
“The application of the death penalty anywhere is deeply troubling,” Bennett said. “In the context of Afghanistan, where the Taliban-controlled justice system lacks any semblance of independence or due process, it is especially alarming.”
Bennett urged the Taliban authorities to immediately halt all executions and establish a moratorium on the death penalty, calling it a crucial first step toward full abolition.
The latest execution, carried out on October 16 in a sports stadium in Badghis province, involved a man convicted of murder. The Taliban’s supreme court said the man had shot another man and a woman, and the execution was approved by Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
This was the eleventh public execution carried out by the Taliban since they returned to power in 2021. Previous executions have taken place in Farah, Ghazni, Laghman, Jowzjan, Badghis, and Nimruz provinces, often in front of hundreds of spectators.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, and multiple rights groups have also condemned the Taliban’s use of the death penalty, stressing that public executions breach international law and violate the fundamental right to life.
“Public executions breach international law, and the death penalty more generally is incompatible with the fundamental right to life,” Türk said, urging the Taliban to take concrete steps toward abolishing capital punishment.
Since their return to power, the Taliban have also publicly flogged hundreds of people, including women and LGBTQ+ individuals, on a range of charges. Despite repeated calls from the UN, international rights groups, and activists, the Taliban continues these practices, citing the enforcement of Sharia law across Afghanistan.
Rights groups have urged the international community to intensify pressure on the Taliban to end what they describe as “blatant” human rights violations and to ensure international safeguards are respected in Afghanistan.
