Tens of thousands of people attended the execution of a man sentenced to death for two murders in Qala-i-Naw, in northwest Afghanistan. It was the 11th public execution since the return of the Taliban.

A spectacular execution. A man was executed Thursday morning in a packed stadium in northwest Afghanistan, bringing to 11 the number of condemned men publicly killed since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, according to an AFP tally.

The Supreme Court announced in a statement that a man convicted of two murders had been killed in Qala-I-Naw, the capital of Badghis province, "in the presence of residents" of the town. The day before, the authorities had called on residents on social media to "participate in the event," while, as usual, banning all cameras and mobile phones to prevent the dissemination of images.

Three bullets fired by the victims' family

According to an AFP correspondent on the scene, tens of thousands of people attended the execution. The man was killed by three bullets fired by the victims' family after they refused to forgive him, according to the Islamic principle of "qisas," or the law of retaliation, the source said.

While public executions were common under the first Taliban rule, between 1996 and 2001, they have been drastically reduced since their return to Kabul in the summer of 2021. So far, 10 men have been shot dead in various provinces across the country, including four in a single day last April.

"The Taliban are carrying out repeated public executions, which is a flagrant violation of human dignity and international law," warned the NGO Amnesty International in April, urging the international community to put pressure on Kabul to stop these punishments.