GHAZNI CITY (SW) – The Islamic Emirate authorities publicly executed two men convicted of murder in a football stadium in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday.
Both men were executed by multiple gunshots to the back in Ghazni city after Supreme Court official Atiqullah Darwish read aloud a death warrant signed by Islamic Emirate Supreme Leader Hebatullah Akhundzada.
“These two people were convicted of the crime of murder,” Darwish said. “After two years of trial in the courts of the country, the order has been signed.”
Thousands of people gathered in the stadium to witness the executions, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.
Families of the convicted men’s victims were present, including women and children, and were asked if they wanted to grant the condemned a last-minute reprieve, but they declined in both cases.
Relatives were also offered to carry out the execution themselves, in line with the de-facto government implementation of Islamic law, but members of the security forces killed both men after they refused, according to AFP.
The executed were identified as Said Jamal and Gul Khan, both guilty of knife murders in September 2017 and January 2022 respectively, according to a Supreme Court statement.
The statement said Akhundzada had conducted an “extraordinary investigation” into their cases.
The Islamic Emirate administration in Kabul has not been officially recognised by any other government since it took power in 2021 and installed its strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Akhundzada ordered judges in 2022 to fully implement all aspects of Islamic law — including “eye for an eye” punishments known as “qisas”.
Islamic law, or sharia, acts as a code of living for Muslims worldwide, offering guidance on issues such as modesty, finance and crime.
However, interpretations vary according to local custom, culture and religious schools of thought.
The first two had also been convicted of murder.
There have been regular public floggings for other crimes, however, including theft, adultery and alcohol consumption.
The last reported execution was carried out in June 2023, when a convicted murderer was shot dead in the grounds of a mosque in Laghman province in front of some 2,000 people.
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