KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban executed a fourth individual by public execution on Friday at a stadium in the western province of Farah, bringing the total number of qisas executions carried out the same day across the country to four.
The Taliban-run supreme court said in a statement that the individual, identified as Mohammad Sadiq, a resident of Shibkoh district, was executed in Farah’s main sports stadium after being convicted of fatally stabbing another man, Bismillah, who was also from Shibkoh.
The execution follows three others carried out earlier the same day — two in Badghis province and one in Nimroz — all on charges of murder.
Taliban claim that the executions are in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law, known as qisas, which allows for retributive justice. The practice has drawn condemnation from human rights organizations, which argue that such punishments violate international legal standards and lack due process protections.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have resumed public corporal and capital punishments, including executions, floggings, and amputations, often held in stadiums or public squares. The Taliban’s leadership has defended the measures as essential to enforcing Islamic principles.
Rights advocates have warned that the Taliban’s increasing use of public punishments signals a return to the policies of their first regime in the 1990s, which were widely condemned by the international community.
