Afghanistan: A Sudden Acceleration of Executions

Death Penalty Worldwide recently updated its entry for Afghanistan. Over the last few years, executions in Afghanistan had taken place infrequently.  There was even a brief, 2-year unofficial moratorium in 2009 and 2010, interrupted in June 2011 with the hanging of two men convicted of killing at least 40 people during a bank siege in Jalalabad in February 2011. This past November, however, fourteen hangings took place within two consecutive days for offenses ranging from aggravated rape and murder to terrorism-related acts. On November 20, eight prisoners were hanged in Pol-e Charki Prison. According to a government official quoted by media sources, some of the men were convicted of rape and murder of women and children and some were convicted of murdering security officers. Another six men, alleged to be members of the Taliban, were hanged on November 21. The six men hanged were convicted of terrorist acts, including plotting suicide bombings, kidnappings and assassinations. Moreover, President Hamid Karzai approved a total of 16 executions, so an additional two executions may soon occur. It is unclear what prompted executions to resume at this accelerated pace.

In addition to state–imposed executions, the death penalty continues to be imposed by the Taliban and tribal courts for social crimes under harsh interpretations of Shariah law in areas outside the Afghan government’s direct control, according to the 2011 U.N. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. In one case in August 2010, the Taliban carried out the execution by stoning of a couple that had eloped without permission. In a more recent incident in 2012, the Taliban executed a 22-year-old woman accused of adultery without an actual trial.

The full entry on capital punishment in Afghanistan can be read here.