On December 2, Taliban’s Supreme Court announced that, on the orders of Supreme Leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, a man, identified as Mangal, was publicly executed at a stadium in Khost city, the provincial capital of Khost Province, on charges of premeditated murder. An estimated 80,000 people gathered at the stadium to watch the execution, which was reportedly carried out by a 13-year-old boy.
Earlier, on a single day, April 11, 2025, Afghanistan’s Supreme Court announced that four men had been publicly executed as part of the Taliban’s Qisas (retribution) punishments in Badghis (2), Farah (1) and Nimroz (1) provinces. Further details were not disclosed. Following these executions, on April 13, in an audio clip released by Taliban’s Chief Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on X, Akhundzada stated: “We must carry out disciplinary measures, perform prayers and acts of worship. We must enter Islam completely. Islam is not just limited to a few rituals; it is a comprehensive system of all divine commands.”
According to partial data collated by Institute for Conflict Management, 12 people have been executed in 10 such incidents, since the Taliban returned to power on August 15, 2021. The first public execution was carried out on December 7, 2021 in the Farah Province, where a man was put to death after being accused of fatally stabbing another man five years earlier.
On November 13, 2022, Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued an obligatory command ordering Afghan judges to implement all aspects of Shari’a law, including public executions, flogging, stoning, and amputation. The order was conveyed by the Taliban’s Chief Spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, that judges were required to enforce the penalties of hudud (crimes against God with mandated punishments) and qisas (retribution in kind). The command was directed at the cases of thieves, kidnappers and seditionists. Hudud crimes include: drinking alcohol, adultery, as well as falsely accusing someone of it, abduction, theft, apostasy, highway robbery, and rebellion. Qisas covers murder and deliberate injury, among other things, but also allows for the families of victims to accept material compensation in lieu of punishment.
During the Taliban’s first ‘phase of rule’ (1996-2001), dramatic public executions were reported in Afghanistan. Verdicts for executions and amputations were passed by the Taliban Shari’a courts. For instance, the U.S. Department of State reported that a couple convicted of adultery by a Taliban court was stoned to death in public in Kandahar in July 1996. In another case, as reported in November 1996, people were ordered to congregate in Herat’s football stadium, where a convicted person was killed after some 30 minutes of strangulation. In October 1997, Taliban militia displayed the corpses of four former Taliban fighters at two intersections in Kabul, hanging from beams about 10 feet off the ground.
Though not in power between 2001 and 2021, the Taliban continued such practices in various places of their dominance. As reported on August 16, 2010, a woman and a man were publicly stoned to death in front of hundreds of villagers in the Dasht-e-Archi District of Kunduz Province, after a Taliban-run court convicted them of adultery. Further, as reported on July 7, 2012, a video filmed execution in the village of Qimchok in Shinwari District of Parwan Province, showed an accused woman shot before villagers.
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan’s (UNAMA’s) 2023 report titled, Corporal Punishment and the death Penalty in Afghanistan observes, further:
During the 20 years of armed conflict which succeeded their fall from power on 9 December 2001, the Taliban continued to carry out corporal punishment and executions in areas under their control… UNAMA documented at least 182 parallel justice structure punishments carried out by the Taliban between 15 August 2010 and 15 August 2021, resulting in 213 deaths and 64 injuries.
In addition to public execution, since August, 15, 2021, Taliban have reinstated corporal punishments. UNAMA has documented a range of forms of corporal punishment carried out since, including lashings/floggings, stoning, other types of beatings, forcing people to stand in cold water and forced head shaving. The punishments are meted for offences, including adultery, running away from home, theft, homosexuality, consuming alcohol, fraud and drug trafficking. According to data collated from the quarterly reports of UNAMA on Human Rights since August, 2021- September, 2025, a total of 1,528 people have been given corporal punishment by Taliban, comprising of 1,217 men, 293 women and 18 children.
The Taliban stages public executions and corporal punishments primarily to prevent crime and demonstrate control, using the display of raw power as an administrative tool. Public punishments signal the Taliban’s claim to religious and judicial legitimacy by presenting punishments as the literal implementation of Shari’a. Spectacles in public places, stadiums and squares percolate fear, weaken local resistance, and demonstrate monopoly over violence. The public executions highlight a forcible justice model to secure severe deterrence. The practice strengthens territorial control through fear, suppresses dissent, and signals ideological inflexibility and commitment.
