On October 16, 2025, Taliban publicly executed, Ismail, another Afghan man, convicted of murder, before thousands of spectators at a sports stadium in Badghis province, Afghanistan. In Herat province, a video from August this year captured Taliban fighters kicking the corpse of Mohammad Daud, accused of assassinating a commander, as crowds filmed the desecration, a gruesome spectacle reinforcing the regime’s reliance on terror to maintain control.
The Taliban identified the victim executed in Herat on August 22, 2025, as an armed opposition member accused of killing two fighters, including a district security commander, intensifying their campaign of fear. Yet hours later, Herat police issued a conflicting statement claiming the man was merely suspected of theft, further underscoring the arbitrariness of so-called Taliban “justice”. Human rights activists condemned the killing as an unlawful summary execution and a violation of human dignity.
These incidents are not isolated cases. In recent months, the Taliban revived the systematic use of corporal punishment, including floggings and executions, despite international outcry. Just days before the Herat execution, Taliban courts confirmed that 11 people, including women, were publicly lashed in Kabul, Faryab, Ghor, and Logar provinces on charges ranging from drug possession to “running away from home.” Punishments ranged from 20 to nearly 40 lashes, often followed by prison terms. UN monitors have documented nearly 200 public floggings in the past three months alone, alongside multiple executions carried out in front of large crowds.
These acts contradict the Taliban’s own promises. In 2021, the group announced a sweeping “general amnesty” for all former government employees and opposition fighters. Yet violations of that pledge occur daily. Extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and corporal punishments have become routine. The amnesty has never been meaningfully implemented—it exists only as rhetoric for international audiences while Afghans live under constant threat.
The Taliban frame these punishments as enforcement of Sharia law, dismissing international condemnation as “foreign interference.” But their actions reveal something more sinister: the consolidation of absolute control through fear. By stripping defendants of legal representation and staging public displays of punishment, the Taliban turn justice into intimidation, erasing even the most basic principles of due process and further eroding the basic human rights of Afghans.
This use of violence as governance is not new. Last year, the Taliban executed four men in Herat accused of kidnapping and displayed their bodies in public squares. Earlier this year, four more were executed in Farah, Nimroz, and Badghis. These incidents are part of a broader system of repression where executions and floggings serve not only as punishment but also as tools of indoctrination and obedience.
The international community cannot afford to treat these abuses as internal matters or cultural or religious differences. Each execution, each flogging, each restriction on Afghan women and girls’ basic freedoms sets a dangerous precedent that authoritarian actors worldwide are watching. The Taliban’s actions amount not only to systematic repression but to gender apartheid and crimes against humanity.
According to various reports, Taliban’s Supreme Court has ordered over 170 executions since 2021, with 10 publicly carried out, including the October 16, 2025, killing in Badghis, intensifying fear and oppression across Afghanistan.
The Badghis and Herat executions are the latest reminder of what happens when brutality replaces governance and when silence substitutes for accountability. The international community has more than enough evidence. What is needed now is action – to hold Taliban leaders legally accountable, to recognize gender apartheid as the crime it is, and to end the impunity that allows these violations to continue.