Key Points
- Afghan-Australians have reacted to a Taliban public execution.
- Some believe it is just the start of a fresh wave of barbarism in the war-torn country.
- Most believe public executions are the regime's way of controlling, silencing the people.
For former Afghan refugee, Aminullah Yaqoubi, the news of the execution brought back disturbing memories of witnessing a public execution in which a man was shot.
Mr Yaqoubi says he experienced significant social and political change in Afghanistan during the first rule of the Taliban between 1996 and 2001.
The wrestling coach says in 1998 when he was participating in a junior wrestling competition, he was forced to watch a public execution and punishment at the contest venue.
The Taliban stopped the wrestling match and brought in two people. One was accused of stealing and had his hand chopped off, the other shot dead.
“My brother and I were so shocked that when we got home, we couldn't eat anything. My mum asked what happened and when we told her, she forbade us from going there anymore," Mr Yaqoubi said.
Aminullah Yaqoubi Credit: Aminullah Yaqoubi
Execution was 'unsurprising'
Afghan-Australian Maryam Zahid says she is "unsurprised" at the news that the Taliban had resumed public executions in Afghanistan.
The founder and managing director of the Sydney-based charity, Afghan Women on the Move, spoke to SBS Pashto a day after a Taliban spokesperson announced the execution of a murder convict in the western Farah province, performed by the murder victim’s father using an assault rifle.
The execution - of the convict identified as Tajmir from Herat province - was performed in front of hundreds of spectators and many top Taliban officials, the spokesperson said.
Maryam Zahid is the founder of Afghan Women On The Move. Source: SBS / SBS Pashto
Ms Zahid said the act was a common method the group employed to "control and silence" the populace.
“I am not surprised because this is how the Taliban metes out so-called 'justice' without any evidence,” Ms Zahid said.
“For them, it is a question of who they like and whom they don’t, and what gives them that power and control to create fear in the community and through that fear, keep the common people of Afghanistan silent.”
Tajmir was convicted of killing another man named Mustafa five years ago and stealing his motorcycle and mobile phone.
According to Zabihullah Mujahid, a senior Taliban government spokesman, the decision to carry out the punishment was "made very carefully" following approval by three of the country's highest courts and the Taliban supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.
Ms Zahid says she believes the Taliban “…will only justify their government rulings by creating fear through killing and jailing people."
"The Taliban never had and doesn’t have any level of moral responsibility and education to think politically and socially about what helps and benefits their people.”
Afghan Women on the Move provides advocacy, social connectivity through social media platforms, settlement and mental health support to the Afghan community overseas and in Australia, especially Afghan women.
'Barbarism' will continue
Head of the Afghan Association of South Australia, Samandar Khan Sediqi, believes that Wednesday's execution was just the start and that the Taliban will "continue the barbarism".
Mr Sediqi is a former Afghan interpreter and cultural advisor who worked alongside Australian forces in Afghanistan from 2013 and 2016.
“More innocent people will be sentenced to death, especially authorities of past republic governments and those who assisted the coalition forces in Afghanistan,” he said.
More people will suffer from depression and anxiety when they see or hear of executions and more will continue to flee the country in order to find sanctuary.Samandar Khan Sediqi
“The lives of our friends, families and those who directly worked with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) will be at much more risk than others.”
On 29 March 2022, the Australian Government announced 16,500 places for Afghan nationals under the Humanitarian Program to be delivered over the next four years in addition to the 10,000 places for Afghan nationals within the offshore Humanitarian Program, announced on 21 January 2022.
This brings the total number of places available to Afghan nationals to 31,500.
This comprises 26,500 places under the Humanitarian Program and at least 5,000 places under the family stream of the Migration Program.
'Execution used to silence opposition'
Ms Zahid says she believes the Taliban uses executions to "silence critics".
“When they don’t have answers and (don’t) meet the expectations and demands of the people, they will simply kill them to silence them,” she said.
She said she had received hundreds of messages through her social media accounts from women in Afghanistan desperate for safety, food and shelter.
Maryam Zahid, first from right. Credit: Maryam Zahid
“I am shocked and ashamed of our political and military powers for not being able to help these women and children with equipment and money."
Amnesty International condemns execution
Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, Dinushika Dissanayake, described the execution as "deplorable" and a "step back for human rights".
“The deplorable return of public executions in Afghanistan is the latest phase in Taliban’s alarming abuse of human rights in the country," Mr Dissanayake said.
"They continue to flagrantly flout human rights' principles with complete disregard for international human rights law."
Carrying out executions in public added to the already cruel, inhuman and degrading nature of the death penalty and had a dehumanising effect on the victim and a brutalising effect on those who witnessed the execution, he said.
"Such public displays of killing perpetuate a culture of acceptance of violence, rather than a belief in justice," Mr Dissanayake said.
All executions violate the right to life. Those carried out publicly are a gross affront to human dignity which cannot be tolerated.Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International
"This retrograde step by the Taliban is a major step back for human rights.”
'Taliban justice is fast and blind'
Former Afghan diplomat in Canberra, Fazal Katawazai, said "...looking at the past judicial history of the Taliban in Afghanistan and their recently open courts and capital punishments which were carried out also seems incomplete, fast and blind in terms of a fair and transparent and standard judicial government process."
Fazal Katawazai Credit: Fazal Katawazai
“Closing the doors of education to Afghan girls as well as performing capital punishments without due process will further isolate and discredit them in the international community.”
