Murder convict publicly executed at Khost stadium

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Supreme Court (SC) says a qisas (retributive justice) sentence was implemented on a convicted murderer at the sports stadium in southeastern Khost province on Tuesday.

The apex court added that the implementation of qisas against two other convicts has been postponed due to the absence of some legal heirs of the victims.

In a statement, SC said: “A Divine ruling of qisas was implemented today on a murderer who had killed a man using a Kalashnikov, at the sports stadium in Khost city.”

The convict, identified as Mangal, son of Tala Khan and grandson of Rahmat Khan, originally from the Sijank area of Sayed Karam district in Paktia and currently residing in Koz Abu Khana of Ali Sher and Terezai district of Khost, had been arrested for the intentional killing of Abdul Rahman, son of Zabet and grandson of Ali Khan, also a resident of the same area.

The case was thoroughly reviewed by all three judicial tiers — primary, appellate and high court — under the Supreme Court.
The qisas ruling was upheld and subsequently submitted to the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada, for final approval.

According to the statement, the supreme leader carried out an additional review as a precaution. The victim’s family was offered reconciliation and forgiveness, but after they declined, he authorised the implementation of the qisas ruling and instructed the Supreme Court to enforce the sentence publicly in Khost city.

The statement added that, under the instruction of the Chief Justice, Sheikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the head of the Criminal Division, Mufti Atiqullah Darwish, led a delegation to Khost to oversee the enforcement of the ruling.

The public execution was attended by the provincial director of the Appeal Court, Mawlawi Ainullah Khalil, Governor Mawlawi Abdullah Mukhtar, several government officials and a large number of local residents.
The gathering concluded with the implementation of the qisas ruling against the convicted individual.

The Supreme Court said qisas had also been authorised for two other convicts in the same case by all three courts and the IEA leadership. However, as some of the victims’ heirs currently reside abroad, implementation of the ruling has been postponed until their presence, in accordance with Sharia.

kk/ma