# Taliban carries out first officially announced public execution since 2021 takeover

Date: 2022

On 7 December 2022, Taliban authorities carried out the first officially announced public execution since returning to power, killing a man in Farah province before a crowd that included senior officials. Taliban statements said the man had been convicted of murder and that the victim's father carried out the execution under qisas, the principle of retributive punishment.

The execution followed [Hibatullah Akhundzada](/people/hibatullah-akhundzada)'s 13 November instruction to judges to apply hudud and qisas punishments where Taliban courts considered the legal requirements satisfied. UN experts cited that leadership order when condemning the return of public executions and corporal punishment. The Taliban's defence is that qisas gives a victim's family a recognized choice between forgiveness and retribution under its interpretation of Islamic law. The accountability concern is that the proceedings occurred in a judicial system lacking the due-process guarantees and independent review required by international standards. The event therefore records both the lethal punishment and the policy decision that preceded its implementation.

## People

- Hibatullah Akhundzada: https://factrail.ai/people/hibatullah-akhundzada

## Drivers

- State Repression: https://factrail.ai/drivers/state-repression
- Rule of Law: https://factrail.ai/drivers/rule-of-law

## Sources

- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/7/afghan-taliban-carry-out-first-public-execution-since-takeover
- https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2084268.html

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/af-taliban-first-public-execution-2022-12-07