Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 29th Feb. UN human rights office IN Geneva on Wednesday said that a renewed order of Taliban public executions by gunfire taking place in sports stadiums in several cities in Afghanistan “must cease immediately”.
OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence in a statement said “We are appalled by the public executions of three people at sports stadiums in Afghanistan in the past week.”
“Public executions are a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” he said.
“Such executions are also arbitrary in nature and contrary to the right to life protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Afghanistan is a State party. They must cease immediately.”
The office reported that the executions in Ghazni and Sheberghan cities were carried out in the presence of de facto court and other officials and the members of the public. The convicted individuals were reportedly shot multiple times, it added.
According to OHCHR, since the Taliban took over in August 2021, 5 people have been publicly executed to decisions of the de facto judicial system and approved by the Taliban leader.
Mr. Laurence said “Given these serious concerns, we urge the de facto authorities to establish an immediate moratorium on any further executions, and to act swiftly to prohibit use of the death penalty in its entirety.”
“The de facto authorities also continue to implement judicial corporal punishment in public,” he said.
He added that it also constitutes a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which is prohibited under international human rights law.
Mr. Laurence cited two recent incidents that happened on Sunday, he said that in Laghman, in the east, a 12-year-old boy and a man were flogged for the crime of immorality, again in public and in the presence of de facto officials. In Balkh province in the northwest, a woman and a man convicted of running away from home and adultery were publicly flogged 35 times.
He stressed that corporal punishment must cease.
“More generally, we call on the de facto authorities to ensure full respect for due process and fair trial rights, in particular access to legal representation, for anyone confronted with criminal charges,”he concluded.
