Deaths Were Required By "Our Religion": Afghan Court On Public Executions

Afghanistan's Supreme Court rejected on Saturday condemnation by the United Nations of the Taliban's use of capital punishment, a day after four convicted murderers were publicly executed.

The executions at sports stadiums in front of large crowds in three provinces on Friday brought to 10 the number of men put to death since the Taliban swept back to power in Afghanistan in 2021, according to an AFP tally.

Law and order is central to the severe ideology of the Taliban and public executions were common during their first rule from 1996 to 2001.

Supreme Court spokesman Abdul Rahim Rashid said "retribution" had been carried out "based on the clear and apparent orders of sharia (Islamic law), reliable witnesses, and confessions by the murderers".

He rejected the UN human rights office's condemnation of the executions as "fundamentally irreconcilable with human dignity and the right to life", calling the statement "unfair and surprising".

He said the executed men had "destroyed innocent lives" and that their deaths were required by "our religion, our sharia system and the demand of our public".

"Islam is a just religion and we are obliged to follow it, no outsider has the right to interfere in our sharia law, religion and justice."

The UN had voiced outrage at the executions in the western provinces of Badghis, Nimroz and Farah of four men -- the most in one day since 2021 -- saying it was "appalled".

"We urge the de facto authorities in Afghanistan to place a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, with a view to ultimately abolishing it," it said on social media platform X.

Human Rights Watch said the executions were "deeply disturbing and represent grave violations of international human rights law".

"This is a reminder for the international community, in particular the UN Human Rights Council, to immediately establish an independent accountability mechanism for Afghanistan so the perpetrators of these unlawful practices could be held accountable," HRW Afghanistan researcher Fereshta Abbasi told AFP.

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