KABUL: Afghanistan’s supreme leader has ordered judges to fully implement aspects of Islamic law that include public executions, stonings and floggings, and the amputation of limbs for thieves, the Taliban’s chief spokesman said.
Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted late Sunday that the “obligatory” command by Hibatullah Akhundzada came after the secretive leader met with a group of judges.
Akhundzada, who has not been filmed or photographed in public since the Taliban returned to power in August last year, rules by decree from Kandahar, the movement’s birthplace and spiritual heartland.
“Carefully examine the files of thieves, kidnappers and seditionists,” Mujahid quoted Akhundzada as saying.
“Those files in which all the sharia (Islamic law) conditions of hudud and qisas have been fulfilled, you are obliged to implement.
“This is the ruling of sharia, and my command, which is obligatory.”
Mujahid was not available Monday to expand on his tweet.
عالیقدر امیرالمؤمنین در یک نشست با قاضیان:
ــ دوسیه های دزدان، اختطافچیان و فتنه گران را به گونه دقیق برسی نماید.
ــ آن دوسیه ها که در آن تمام شرائط شرعی حد وقصاص تکمیل شده باشد، شما مکلف هستید که درآن حدود و قصاص را عملی نماید،
زیرا این حکم شریعت و امر من می باشد که واجب است.— Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) November 13, 2022
Hudud refers to offences which, under Islamic law, certain types of punishment are mandated, while qisas translates as “retaliation in kind” — effectively an eye for an eye.
Hudud crimes include adultery — and falsely accusing someone of it — drinking alcohol, theft, kidnapping and highway robbery, apostasy and rebellion.
Qisas covers murder and deliberate injury, among other things, but also allows for the families of victims to accept compensation in lieu of punishment.
Islamic scholars say crimes leading to hudud punishment require a very high degree of proof, including — in the case of adultery — confession, or being witnessed by four adult male Muslims.
