Taliban shoot 'suspected thief' in summary execution and hang his corpse from a tank - as UN calls on the group to end capital punishment

The Taliban shot dead a man after accusing him of theft - then hanged his body from a tank in a crowded public area.The gruesome killing, which took place in Herat, drew international outrage and renewed calls for the Taliban to end the use of executions and public punishments. 
In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, the Taliban's Herat police claimed the man had been identified by residents, detained during a security operation and 'eliminated' for alleged theft.
Videos circulating on social media showed Taliban fighters kicking the man's head and face as his lifeless body hung from an old tank at the busy Kandahar Gate area, where large crowds gathered to watch.
But footage from the scene appeared to contradict the man's charges.  
In one of the clips, a Taliban fighter claimed that he was a member of a rival armed group. 
He was also accused of killing two members of the Taliban group, including Mawlawi Hassan Akhund, the commander of its 10th security district in Herat. 
Before the execution on August 22, the opposing faction had claimed responsibility for the attack. A sign reading: 'Death to the Nahzat Azadi-Bakhsh Afghanistan group was reportedly pinned to the unidentified man's chest.
Human rights groups and activists condemned the killing as a summary execution carried out without any form of due process.
'Taking away someone's right to life without a fair trial and due process is a blatant violation of human rights,' said activist Hadi Farzam. 'Hanging the body in public after the killing is a direct affront to human dignity.'
Farima Nawabi, a human rights researcher, told Hasht-e Subh Daily: 'What the Taliban did in Herat is clearly contrary to Islamic and human principles. 
Instead of burying the body with respect, they hung a human corpse to instil fear - an act that, from the perspective of religion, ethics, and conscience, is a compounded crime.'
A member of the women's organisation Window of Hope told news outlet Amu that Taliban trials deny defendants access to lawyers or any right of defence. 
'The Taliban's use of executions and corporal punishment is intensifying, and taking away the right to life contradicts both justice and Islamic principles,' she said.
The UN has repeatedly urged the Taliban to halt public executions, which they describe as cruel and degrading.
So far, the Taliban government have carried out eleven public killings since it returned to power. 
Last week, it was reported that a man who murdered a heavily pregnant woman and her husband had been executed by a relative of the victims, under the retaliatory punishment system introduced by the Taliban. 
As with most of the group's capital punishment sentences, he was killed in front of a crowd at a sports stadium. He was shot three times as thousands of spectators looked on. 
Notices of invitations to the execution was sent out and widely circulated before the man was killed.  
This year, on April 11, four men were publicly slaughtered in three cities across the country. It was the highest number of killings carried out in a single day in the latest Taliban regime. 
The deceased men had been accused of murdering other men and were also sentenced to retaliatory punishment. 
At the time, the UN said: 'Friday’s executions represent a worrying increase in this kind of punishment. We urge the Taliban to introduce an immediate moratorium on the death penalty with a view to its abolition.'
The organisation added: 'Turning executions into public events can never be justified, not even on religious grounds.' It also said the method normalised 'brutality' and 'desensitises communities to violence'. 
It continued: ' The Taliban must immediately stop capital punishment and all forms of corporal punishment that constitute torture or other forms of cruel and inhuman punishment, and respect the rights and dignity of all detainees.'
In 2022, Afghanistan's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, instructed judges to recognise all aspects of the Taliban's interpretation of Islamic law, including 'qisas'. 
It allows the death penalty to be applied as punishment in murder cases. Since 2001, public floggings and executions have returned, with dissent punished harshly. Some of the crimes punishable by flogging include adultery, robbery, and gay sex. 
During the group's first rule from 1996 to 2001, executions were commonplace. They were usually carried out at huge venues such as sports stadiums and witnessed by thousands of Afghans. 
Earlier this month, it was reported that the group had cut off internet and mobile services nationwide, leaving millions of people cut off from the rest of the world. The Taliban claimed that the move was needed to prevent 'immorality'.