Thousands watch as Taliban executes two murder convicts in football stadium in Afghanistan

Ghazni: Thousands of local watched as Taliban authorities publicly executed two men, who were convicted of murder, in a football stadium in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday.

Both the murder convicts were executed by multiple gunshots to the back in Ghazni City after Supreme Court official Atiqullah Darwish read aloud a death warrant signed by Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

The convicts are identified as Said Jamal and Gul Khan, both guilty of knife murders in September 2017 and January 2022 respectively.

As per reports, the two were convicted of the crime of murder after two years of trial in the courts of the country. Following the conviction, thousands of men gathered in the stadium to witness the execution.

Reportedly, families of the victims, whom the convicts killed, were present at the scene and asked if they wanted to grant the condemned a last-minute reprieve but they declined in both cases.

The killings of these convicts were the third and fourth public executions since the Taliban seized power in 2021 amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) has strongly criticized the Taliban for carrying out public executions, lashings and stoning since seizing power, and called on the country’s rulers to halt such practices.

On Thursday, the UN said it was strongly opposed to the death penalty, saying it was inconsistent with the fundamental right to life. During their previous rule of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, the Taliban regularly carried out public executions, beatings and stoning.