Afghanistan: The execution and amputation of hands practice will return though maybe not in public, said the new head of prisons and one of the group’s founders Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, in an interview on Thursday published by Associated Press.
He said that people had criticised their execution in public but did not say anything about the main practice of execution or amputation, “Everyone criticised us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Nooruddin said. “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Quran,” he added.
Turabi was speaking in the Afghan capital Kabul, whether or not the sentences will be carried out in public remains to be seen, but Turabi said the Cabinet will “develop a policy.”
“We are changed from the past,” when the organization was known for holding executions in stadiums, Turabi said.
The claims of good Taliban are looking vague after this statement from the new head of prisons. Taliban is known for its hard-line policies and harsh practices.
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan and seized control of the country, Afghans and the world have been watching to see whether they will re-create their harsh rule of the late 1990s.
Criminal trials were usually held in private and “weighted in favor of Islamic clerics,” according to the AP, but will now be conducted by judges, some of whom will be women.
Turabi’s comments pointed to how the group’s leaders remain entrenched in a deeply conservative, hard-line worldview, even if they are embracing technological changes, like video and mobile phones.
During their rule in Afghanistan in the past, from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban were known for their particularly cruel treatment of women, a trend that has since reemerged. They barred girls from getting an education or voting and forbade women from leaving the house without a male companion, among other policies.
They also flogged and beat those found to have violated the rules, and stoned to death women accused of adultery.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
